


Legacy of the Cuajuhn

by mckvch (RaiseYourVoice)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alien/Human Relationships, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - I Am Number Four Setting, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Awkwardness, Bullying, Canonical Character Death, F/F, Fights, First Kiss, First Love, Flirting, High School, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Shapeshifting, Shooting, Slow Burn, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-26 21:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 50,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13866477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaiseYourVoice/pseuds/mckvch
Summary: “Hey, stop harassing other people or do you get off on being a major dick and coward?!” Raphael finally called out, having enough of this nonsense and not wanting to stand idly by while other people simply stood there and watched.“And who the fuck are you? So insignificant that I can’t even remember ever seeing your face,” blond douchebag shot back after the initial surprise of someone actually interfering.“That might be because I haven’t been at this school until three days ago but I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t remember someone walking past you for years. I don’t expect your brain to have that much capacity,” Raphael deadpanned, unimpressed, while he brushed past this asshole to collect one of the books scattered on the floor.He stood up again, brushing some dirt off the book, when he felt a hand curl into the back of his leather jacket and Raphael clenched his teeth, fighting off the urge to thrust his elbow back or kick the other’s legs and make him fall right on his dumb face.





	Legacy of the Cuajuhn

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for this story in June 2017 and started writing it around early October the same year. Now here we are, it's finally finished and ready to be uploaded. I really hope people will enjoy it since it's a little different from my usual stories, at least genre-wise. This one is mostly to blame that there wasn't much other stuff since most of the time I got around to writing, I spent on this piece of work right here.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Also, since this story is so long, I had to split it up in several documents and it might be that I messed something up when I did so. At least, I spotted one instance where part of a scene had ended up in a different spot so...if you encounter something that seems out of place/doesn't make sense, please point it out to me so I can fix it! That's the downside of having such a large chunk of text at once, I'm not used to it and might have screwed something up *laughs*
> 
> But, enough of that, get to reading and enjoy :)

_“Leave! You have to go_ now _, my precious child. I will go get your siblings and we’ll be right behind you, I promise!”_

 _He was pushed outside by his mother and despite not wanting to leave her side even for a second, he obeyed her command because of how urgent her words had sounded. He tripped over his own feet as he was running away from the only place he had known as_ home _in his young life so far._

_When the explosion sounded behind him, almost deafening in its volume, he whirled around and shielded his face from the pieces of debris flying at him but that didn’t keep him from making his way back towards his home. His home that was falling apart, with smoke billowing upwards. He only managed about three steps before strong arms wrapped around his middle, a familiar voice shouting his name while he was hoisted up and carried away, despite all of his struggles and cries to be let to his family._

 

Raphael jerked awake when a hand wrapped around his shoulder and shook him gently. He blinked the haze of sleep from his eyes but still needed a moment to clear his view because it was currently nighttime and only the dim light of headlights cut through the darkness enveloping the road in front of them.

“You alright, kid?”

He made an affirmative noise despite both of them knowing it was a blatant lie but what else was he supposed to say? That, once again, he had woken up with the images of years ago clear on his mind—the distant screams of his family and the other people of their kind dying ringing in his ears? They both knew it was the case but they refrained from saying it out loud.

“We’ll arrive shortly,” was the next comment that followed but Raphael didn’t pay too much attention to it. He tilted his head to the side and stared out into the night, his cheek pressed against the cool glass of the passenger seat window that fogged up from his warm, moist breath.

His eyelids were just as heavy as his heart as he wondered how long they would stay in the new place this time. How long until they would pack up their few belongings again to travel to a different city. Always travelling. Always on the run.

Before he could end up in the usual spiral of frustrated thoughts about this whole situation, the exhaustion won over again and Raphael dozed off into a, this time fortunately dreamless, sleep. He only woke up again when they finally reached the place that would be their home for now—an old house a little outside of a small town whose name he hadn't bothered memorising because he knew they it wasn't safe to stick around for too long anyway.

*******

“And you really want to go to school? I thought it's boring there?”

“Yeah, well, less boring than sitting here all day doing nothing,” Raphael replied with a shrug and stuffed the last piece of toast into his mouth before flicking a larger crumb off his plate and right at the head of the black cat curled up at the side of the table. The animal’s golden eyes opened slowly, staring at him with a thoroughly unimpressed expression.

“You're not supposed to be on the table. Your fur gets into the food and it's disgusting,” Raphael complained but the cat only yawned at him, stretching its paws before going back to napping. “Ugh, whatever. I'm off to school, Ragnor, see you later.”

Raphael pushed his chair back with a sigh and snatched his backpack from the floor but he was stopped by Ragnor calling his name.

“Be careful and don’t forget to—”

“Keep a low profile, yadda yadda. I know!” He rolled his eyes at the tall man who was officially his father but in reality, he had always been a very close friend of his family who had sworn to keep Raphael safe. It was a promise he had kept very reliably so far, though Raphael felt like he was a little too over-protective sometimes.

“I will call you every other hour to make sure you’re okay and if you don't answer I’ll come get you,” Ragnor added with a serious expression and Raphael sighed. He knew the other only meant it well and of course, they had to take means to make sure everything was okay but it felt like he never got any time for himself.

Sure, if there was this whole “someone is out to kill you” aspect looming over your head, complaining about someone always watching over you and being worried was quite shitty but after living like this for several years now...Raphael was admittedly tired of never being able to have a normal life. Not that his life here on earth could ever be normal, seeing as this planet technically wasn't his home but there was no actual home to return to.

“I promise, though I still think it's exaggerated. But do whatever makes you feel better,” he replied with a shrug and didn't wait for Ragnor to say anything back, only rubbed his fingers over the black cat's head before stepping out of the small, sparsely furnished kitchen and then left the house to head to his first day at yet another school. Another first day. One of many.

The walk to school only took him about twenty minutes and he was way too early but Raphael still had to go to the secretary’s office because he didn’t know his class or schedule and there was usually some kind of form he had to fill in. He honestly considered getting a copy of said form because he needed those way too much and it was annoying filling them in every damn time.

While Raphael was sat in the open secretary's office, he could hear voices from the principal’s office and at some point, he couldn't help but tilt his head a little to look back and watch through the not completely closed blinds of the window that belonged to the office. There was a guy almost yelling at what Raphael assumed to be the principal and said guy might be one of the teachers.

“ _This is unacceptable!_ ” The man said, his voice a little dulled through the wall and window, waving a piece of paper in the principal’s face, his own face turning into a splotchy red colour. “ _She uploaded a bunch of photos on the internet and I want them to be taken down_ immediately _!_ ”

Raphael tried to get a glance at the paper in the assumed-teacher’s hand to figure out if it was one of the photos and what exactly it showed. He did sneak a short peek at it when the teacher went on, moving his hand agitatedly, and barely suppressed a snort.

The photo showed the teacher in the classroom, sneakily trying to zip up his open fly but the shot made it very obvious what was going on.

“ _I will take care of the matter, please go get ready for your lesson now_ ,” the principal replied with a sigh and pointed at the door.

The teacher followed suit and left the room, his face still reddened in outrage. When he closed the door to the office, the teacher briefly glanced at Raphael who was still waiting for his papers and did his best to not look like he totally eavesdropped on the conversation.

As soon as the teacher had left, Raphael glanced over his shoulder into the other office again and now spotted a girl walking up to the principal's desk, slumping into one of the two chairs placed there. He could see her voluminous black hair and that her skin was quite a few nuances darker than his own, a rich brown that easily made the bright red lipstick even more prominent through the contrast.

Before he was able to listen in on the next part of the conversation as well, the secretary called Raphael's name and called him back to the counter so he got up and took care of filling in the papers with practised ease. They always looked a little different at every school but were basically the same forms everywhere. By now, he could probably fill them in with his eyes closed.

Just when he finished with the form and pushed it back over the counter towards the bored looking secretary, the door to the director’s office opened and the girl stepped outside, her lips pursed a little in obvious annoyance and nothing hinted at her being intimidated by whatever speech the director had given her.

“I don’t want another complaint like this again, Miss Roberts!” A man’s voice—the director’s—could be heard before the door clapped shut and Raphael raised an eyebrow in mild amusement when he saw the girl roll her eyes.

‘Miss Roberts’ was just about to leave the secretariat, hoisting what looked like a camera bag further up her shoulder, when the secretary called out to her.

“Maia! Could you please show the new student the way to the classroom? You share today’s first course,” the woman said and pointed at Raphael as if him being the only other person in the room didn’t make it obvious enough that the secretary was referring to him.

“But I don’t have time to—”

“Class starts in about ten minutes so you better hurry,” the secretary added, some kind of warning in her voice and Maia breathed out a loud sigh, not even trying to mask how much she didn’t want to do this.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go, newbie.” She glanced at Raphael, gaze travelling up and down briefly to assess him before she turned around and stepped out into the still crowded hallway.

Raphael blinked but quickly followed her to not get lost in the first few minutes at his new school already. Maia was a little bit shorter than him but she walked briskly through the waves of students, smoothly sidestepping unattentive people with an ease that showed she had probably never bothered just falling in step with the crowd.

He still managed to keep up with her, though Maia clearly tried to lose him, but they still reached the classroom together and in time.

“Listen, they probably gave you the ‘this school fosters every students’ abilities and makes sure the individual manages to get the best possible degree’ speech but believe me, nobody here gives a crap about any of that. It’s everyone for themselves, the usual bully or be bullied like every other high school,” Maia announced, having turned around right before the door instead of opening it to enter the class.

Raphael’s eyebrows shot towards his hairline and he felt his lips quirk up in amusement. “Wow, aren’t you a positive ray of sunshine.”

“I’m merely telling you to throw away whatever expectation you had for this school because they are not likely to be met,” the girl replied with a shrug, fingers curled around the strap of her camera bag and she blew a dark lock of hair out of her forehead.

“Duly noted. Is that why you’re rather taking incriminating photographs of your teachers than pay attention during the lessons?”

Now it was Maia’s turn to raise her eyebrows, mostly in surprise, and then her lips actually curled up at the corners for the blink of an eye.

“You heard that, huh?” Her shoulders seemed to relax a tad and Raphael wondered with what kinds of reactions Maia was usually met that she seemed so completely defensive to new people right away. “It’s my hobby—photography. Most think it’s ‘nerdy’ and ‘boring’ but I don’t care what anybody thinks.”

“You certainly seem to have an admirable amount of self-confidence,” Raphael said with a smile and for some reason he had already taken a liking to this girl. She seemed different from most girls he had met in all the different high schools yet and that definitely stood out to him.

“Why, thank you for noticing,” Maia replied, batting her eyelashes and throwing an imaginary strand of hair over her shoulder but then a soft laughter escaped her lips and she openly grinned at Raphael. “Maybe you aren’t so bad yourself, newbie.”

“The name’s Raphael,” he pointed out but Maia only hummed and turned around, finally opening the door to the classroom and stepping inside with an air of aloofness wafting off of her with every step again.

Raphael had to admit he was maybe a little bit impressed and that didn’t happen a lot around humans or at least not over the past few years living on this planet, hiding amongst the oddity that was the human race.

*******

The first day at the new school was pretty damn uneventful, to say the least. Raphael sat down next to Maia during the first two lessons, ignoring her put-upon annoyance when he did so, but afterwards, they didn’t have the same class so he was stuck with a bunch of strangers and no interest in talking to any of them.

Whenever they moved to a new town, Raphael mostly kept to himself by now because befriending people made zero sense. They only stayed in the same place for a few weeks at a time—a couple of months if he was lucky—so it was easier not getting to know anyone since had to turn his back on them sooner rather than later anyway.

It was a few days later after Raphael had just arrived at school and was grabbing a book from his locker that he needed for the first class of the day when he heard other students mock someone. He had been in enough schools and around enough stupid teenagers to recognise the mocking tune of the guys’ words and rolled his eyes, turning around to see whoever the poor victim was.

“Come on, Lewis, admit you still sleep in Superman bedclothes like the dumb little nerd you are,” one of these assholes—some blond douchebag with gelled back hair, wearing the jacket of the school’s sports team and a cocky grin, probably feeling all high and mighty—and the much scrawnier guy he was picking on glared at the guy through black-rimmed glasses and from underneath an unruly mop of curly brown hair.

“I’ll have you know that while I do like the comics by DC, I’m more of a Marvel fan and actually still own Spiderman bedclothes, so what?” The other boy replied, not even too intimidated by this blond bully which was kind of a surprise.

Raphael had seen scenes like this multiple times already but never had he seen someone not back down and talk back to such jocks. The bully seemed at least a slight bit taken aback by the Lewis-boy admitting to what he thought of as an insult and Raphael couldn’t help but grin a little.

Of course, since the guy clearly didn’t have the brain to come up with other insults, he now stepped towards the other boy and knocked the books out of his hands, scattering them all over the hallway and causing a few people around to start laughing with their hands over their mouths.

“Hey, stop harassing other people or do you get off on being a major dick and coward?!” Raphael finally called out, having enough of this nonsense and not wanting to stand idly by while other people simply stood there and watched.

“And who the fuck are you? So insignificant that I can’t even remember ever seeing your face,” blond douchebag shot back after the initial surprise of someone actually interfering.

“That might be because I haven’t been at this school until three days ago but I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t remember someone walking past you for years. I don’t expect your brain to have that much capacity,” Raphael deadpanned, unimpressed, while he brushed past this asshole to collect one of the books scattered on the floor.

He stood up again, brushing some dirt off the book, when he felt a hand curl into the back of his leather jacket and Raphael clenched his teeth, fighting off the urge to thrust his elbow back or kick the other’s legs and make him fall right on his dumb face.

“How dare you talk to me like this?! You clearly have no idea who you’re talking to you little—”

“Jace Herondale! Stop harassing your fellow students or do you want to join me in detention again for the next weeks?!” A voice interrupted the douchebag and the guy actually growled but let go of Raphael’s jacket nonetheless.

“No, Mrs Cooper,” Jace grit out and glared at Raphael before walking off with his two fellow jocks on his heels.

The teacher, Mrs Cooper, didn’t seem interested in making sure nobody had gotten hurt by these neanderthals and turned around to leave again without a second glance at either Raphael or the other boy who was still collecting his things from the floor.

“You didn’t have to do that,” the boy said when he finally got all his stuff and Raphael handed him the book he had picked up, raising his eyebrows at the statement.

“Of course I had to because nobody else seemed to feel the need to help,” he replied and this was one of the moments that really made him wonder about this oh-so evolved species. Humans always acted high and mighty, like they were the most advanced beings in existence, but they failed at the most basic social interactions.

“That is unexpectedly noble but you shouldn’t have drawn their attention to you.”

“A simple _thank you_ would suffice.”

“Right, sorry. I am thankful for your help!” The boy added now, a little bit sheepish but his expression was genuine enough so Raphael nodded and lightly smiled back at him. “I’m Simon, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Simon, despite the circumstances. My name is Raphael,” he introduced himself as well and glanced up when the first bell rang, telling the students to better head to their classes so they wouldn’t be late.

“It was nice meeting you too, Raphael,” Simon replied and almost seemed a little disappointed that the bell had interrupted them already. “See you around, I guess?”

Raphael nodded with a casual “Sure, see you around”, though he wasn’t sure if that would or should be the case at all. He didn’t want to make any friends and now he had already met the second person he found somewhat intriguing which could cause a problem a little further down the road.

For now, he didn’t want or need to worry about that, though—his only worry was figuring out where the heck he would find the room where his next class took place.

In the end, Raphael arrived almost ten minutes late to his class because he had gotten lost, cursing himself for not just asking Simon for directions when he had the chance. Fortunately, his teacher wasn’t too mad about it since he was the new kid after all and therefore benefitted from slightly more lax rules for at least another week.

*******

“So, how is the school so far?”

Raphael rolled his eyes and it had only been a matter of time until Ragnor would ask this question—he always did and rarely waited until their first weekend in a new town to start with this idle chit-chat as if he didn’t know exactly that Raphael was mostly bored out of his mind.

Going to school was nothing but a cover to appear normal but his kind had quite the keen perception to be able to quickly adjust to new circumstances. After getting to earth, it had taken Ragnor a few weeks and him a few month to get a good understanding of how things worked on this new planet, how the inhabitants behaved and communicated. By now, after only a few years, they had long since managed to appear like completely normal human beings.

Raphael knew all the important things he had to know, which was probably a lot more information than a regular human managed to collect over their whole lifespan, so school was pretty damn boring for him, to put it lightly.

“It’s okay, I guess,” Raphael humoured his protector, tagging on a teasing “dad” after a heartbeat just to get a rise out of Ragnor. The other was always posing as Raphael’s father since it was the most inconspicuous cover.

“You sound enthusiastic as usual,” Ragnor chuckled with a teasing note to his voice while flipping the page of his newspaper and simultaneously taking a sip of his coffee.

“What did you expect? It's not like I learn anything new there. And teenagers are douchebags.”

That statement gained him a lowered newspaper to be met with a raised eyebrow. Ragnor didn't even have to pose the question what had happened since Raphael decided to offer the information without waiting for the obvious question.

“I saw some jocks bully another student the other day. These types of assholes are on every damn school I go to and it's exhausting to witness how little everyone else cares about it.” Raphael frowned at his own cup of coffee, fingers curled around the still warm container. “I just don't get it, even after all these years.”

“Well, humans love to pretend to be a social bunch but when it comes down to it most rather avoid confrontation if it's not someone dear to them who’s in trouble.”

“I know _that_ but I don't get _why_. How can they care so little? We care—we cared a whole lot about our kind, even those we didn't know personally,” he muttered and then it his bottom lip since they usually avoided this topic altogether.

It was painful for both of them, remembering what they had lost, the number of fellow Cuajuhns that had been killed in the attack that had eradicated their whole planet, making it uninhabitable and forcing the few survivors to flee. When they had landed on earth, one of Raphael’s first research subjects had been his home planet, Pramenus, only to learn that nobody here knew it or, which was more likely, they simply had another name for it. If that was the case, he hadn't been able to figure out what it was called yet.

“I can’t tell you why humans are so different in this aspect. That’s just how they are,” Ragnor commented with a shrug and Raphael knew that already. He was aware that the other couldn’t possibly answer this question but sometimes he simply had to wonder out loud about the weirdness of the humans.

“So, other than these bullies, did anything interesting happen? Made some friends?”

Raphael sighed and he had told Ragnor over and over again that he didn’t even want to try making friends anymore but the other kept on ignoring his decision, asking about it every damn time they moved to a different city.

“No and I don’t plan to but you know that already,” he finally answered, rolling his eyes and taking a sip of his coffee before spreading some butter on one of the croissants he had gotten for breakfast when he had been out on his early morning run. “Admittedly, I met two interesting people but...it would be useless to try and befriend them. What’s the point if we leave again soon?”

Now it was Ragnor’s turn to sigh and he put down his newspaper completely, resting his elbows on the table and linking his fingers together while looking intensely at his protégé.

“I get that you don’t want to befriend people but you can’t just spend your whole time alone. I wish our situation wouldn’t be like this, you know that. I don’t like the constant moving around any more than you do but this isn’t about whether we like it or not but about being safe. We can’t be safe if we stay in the same place for too long and build a proper living anywhere.”

Raphael had already given up on counting the number of times he had to listen to this particular speech. He knew all of this but even for his species, he was still young and unwilling to really except their dire situation. He knew the It’ahr were dangerous and wanted to kill every last one of his kind, that they were surely looking for everyone who had managed to escape their planet, but the earth was so much bigger than Pramenus and it was a lot easier to hide here, in Raphael’s opinion.

“They haven’t shown up even once in all the years. Maybe they’re not even looking for us on this planet,” Raphael tried and he was so sick of travelling around the country all the time. Sure, travelling a lot could be fun and it was interesting to see so much of the world they were living in now but when you did nothing else for years, it got tiresome very quickly.

He had lost his whole family, his home, _his whole damn planet_ and all Raphael wanted was to find a new home but that seemed to be impossible with the way they currently lived. And no matter how often he started this argument, Ragnor simply wouldn’t budge on his opinion that this was the safest way to go about it. Their very own witness protection programme, how humans would probably call it.

“But they are on earth, looking for us and others that have escaped. I’m monitoring the signs and it was only last month that they showed up in northern California,” Ragnor replied, briefly gesturing towards the corner of the living room where his whole computer equipment was set up, some kind of algorithm constantly checking worldwide for signs of their enemies to figure out where they should head next in order to keep out of harm's way.

“Maybe we should try to find the others, then? Figure out how to deal with the It’ahr once and for all so we don’t have to spend our whole existence in hiding!”

“Raphael, you know we can’t do that! You and the others are the future of our kind, our only hope—bringing all of you together would be a way too easy target. You have to grow stronger and train your abilities, as do the others, before you can get together and even dream of a chance to defy the It’ahr,” Ragnor said, massaging his temple as if warding off an oncoming headache.

Raphael pressed his lips into a thin line and he was so over getting the same damn, useless answers every time. He pushed the plate away with the rest of his food and downed his coffee, not feeling very hungry anymore. “I’ll head out.”

“Where are you going?”

“ _Out_ ,” Raphael repeated and pushed himself up from the table, almost stumbling over the black cat brushing up against his legs as soon as he took a step away from the dining table.

He pursed his lips a little, looking down at the softly purring feline before he gave in, picking it up off the ground with one hand and using the other to card his fingers through the silky fur, brushing them over the animal’s back gently.

The cat had suddenly shown up the night they had arrived here and stuck around ever since. Raphael had managed to convince Ragnor to keep the cat since it was just a harmless animal and at least some kind of company and friend. By now, Raphael had decided on the name _Magnus_ and the cat seemed happy enough with it.

“Just be careful and don’t do anything—”

“That will draw attention to me, I know. We don’t have to have this talk every damn time I leave the house, you know?” He placed the cat down on his vacated chair, scratching its head when Magnus meowed at him in protest.

“Apparently we do because you still don’t get why we have to do all of this,” Ragnor groused, glancing unhappily at the breakfast Raphael hadn’t finished but didn’t comment on it, picking up his newspaper again.

“Oh, I get that just fine but it’s getting really tiresome and I wish we could put an end to this already. I want a normal life and have a proper home, not live in fear and feel hunted all the damn time,” Raphael shot back with a frown but then huffed because he knew Ragnor would only start explaining the whole “we don’t have a choice” and “you’re not ready yet” bullshit once again.

He made a dismissive gesture just when his protector opened his mouth, then turned around to stomp out of the kitchen, not caring that he acted like a petulant child. Raphael slipped into his boots and snatched his leather jacket before getting out of the house, slamming the door a little for good measure.

*******

It was the Monday of Raphael second week at the new school and he spent his break outside in the sun, having found a nice spot on the grass to relax and watch the other student scattered around the area. It didn’t take too long for the moment to be interrupted, though, because the voice of Jace and his fellow jocks echoed over towards where Raphael was sat and he rolled his eyes, turning around to see what was going on this time.

Again, the bullies had decided on Simon as their target who still didn’t seem to be impressed but obviously tried to get away from these douchebags anyway.

Jace was playing around with a football, throwing it into the air and catching it again, before he suddenly decided on some target practice and hauled the ball at Simon, hitting the side of the boy’s face and knocking the glass off his nose.

Raphael was up on his feet in a heartbeat and by Simon’s side only a few seconds later, snatching the fortunately unharmed glasses off the ground. “You okay?”

The other boy nodded, muttering his thanks when he took his glasses back and their finger brushed briefly. Raphael watched Simon push the glasses back onto his nose before turning around to the still laughing jocks.

“Hey, newbie, how about throwing back my football?” Jace called out, apparently trying to seem innocent but missing the point by a mile with his whole behaviour.

Raphael was tempted to just ignore this asshole’s request but then he figured, why not. He picked up the football that had hit Simon in the head and Jace seemed surprised but amused that Raphael was actually going to throw it. When he did throw the ball, it was perfectly aimed at Jace who raised his hands to catch it, clearly not expecting for the football the crash into his chest with quite some force, knocking him back a few steps.

“What the—” Jace coughed, the breath clearly having been knocked out of his lungs for a moment and he stared wide-eyed from the ball to Raphael who was admittedly a little taken aback by his own strength as well but not entirely surprised since Ragnor had always told him he would develop certain abilities when he got older—the reason he had to wait to search for the other survivors because their abilities had to awaken and be trained first before they would hopefully be able to stand their ground in a fight against the It’ahr.

“Woah, that was quite the powerful throw,” Simon mumbled, sounding a little bit awed and then his lips twitched into a slight grin when Jace and the other jocks left, clearly not very proud of that awkward catching fail. “Thanks for your help, again.”

Raphael averted his eyes from the retreating douchebags and looked at Simon, noticing the large red blotch at the side of his face where the football had hit him. It looked pretty painful and Raphael had to resist the urge to brush his fingertips over the irritated skin since that would probably be a pretty weird thing to do.

“I was just lucky, I guess. And you’re welcome,” he replied with a hesitant smile, hoping that Simon would believe he didn’t have such rather inhumane strength but he figured that most humans wouldn’t think that was the case, seeing as barely anyone actually considered  such a thing to be possible and those who did were usually thought of as being crazy by the rest.

“Does it hurt very badly?” Raphael asked, pointing towards the side of Simon’s head where he had been hit by the football and the other boy raised a hand, gingerly touching the reddened spot and flinching a little because the contact was clearly painful.

“I’ll live. I’ve had worse,” Simon settled on, with a sheepish little grin and a shrug.

Raphael was just about to say that this wasn’t how it was supposed to be, that Simon shouldn’t be used to being treated like this and he shouldn’t diminish an injury just because he had been hurt worse before, but he was distracted by the sound of a camera-shutter nearby and turned around, spotting Maia not too far away with her camera directed at them.

“Uh, did that girl just take a photo of us?” Simon asked, having noticed the sound and Maia with her camera as well, cheeks pinking with embarrassment.

“Looks like it,” Raphael replied before nodding in her direction to prompt Simon to follow when he walked up to Maia, eyebrows raised at her in amusement. “Shouldn’t you ask people for permission before taking their picture?”

“Only when I intend to upload the photos to my website but I don’t think pictures of you guys are good enough to be exhibited in any way,” she replied easily, the camera now resting on her thigh with one hand still curled around it, a mischievous glint in her dark eyes.

“Now that’s just rude.” Raphael shook his head with a put-upon sigh before dropping into the grass next to her, patting the space next to himself to invite an awkward looking Simon to join them.

“Who’s your friend?” Maia inquired, tilting her head while obviously dragging her gaze up and down Simon for a moment who clearly felt uncomfortable about being scrutinized like this.

“Simon. Simon Lewis. That’s my name,” the other boy introduced himself, stumbling a little over the words and Raphael huffed out a soft laugh because Simon was honestly ridiculous but in an unexpectedly good way. “And you’re...Maia, right?”

Raphael hadn’t expected that Simon knew her name since he had addressed her as ‘that girl’ before and Maia clearly didn’t know him. It seemed like there might be some kind of story behind that but Raphael figured now really wasn’t the time to ask about that.

“That’s my name,” Maia confirmed with surprised amusement and then raised her camera again, leaning back a little before pointing it at the two boys to take more photos of them, not caring that Raphael rolled his eyes at her and Simon continued to look more embarrassed than anything else.

“So you don’t want our ugly mugs on your website but still want to take photos of us?” Raphael asked and glanced at Simon when the other boy made a small noise of protest but quickly shook his head when he noticed that Raphael was looking at him questioningly.

“Of course, I have to document this for later generations!” With that, Maia took another photo and finally lowered the camera again, grinning at both of them.

“I’m currently reconsidering my decision to like you,” Raphael pointed out dryly, though he didn’t actually mind the friendly teasing and since Maia had said she didn’t plan on putting the photos on her website, it should be fine. Otherwise, Raphael would have to come up with some kind of stupid reason why she couldn’t upload his picture anywhere—Ragnor would have his head if he ended up with his face all over the internet for their enemies to see.

“Oh, come on, I’m the most lovable person around here.” Maia bumped her shoulder into Raphael’s, grinning at him, and it was quite fascinating how open she seemed now after initially being pretty closed up when they first met last week.

“We’ll see about that,” Raphael replied teasingly and they kept bickering back and forth for a little, Simon mostly watching then but not really contributing anything, until the bell rang and called them back to class.

*******

“Raphael, what is this?!”

The door to his sparsely furnished room opened and Ragnor stepped inside, tablet in hand and showing the display to Raphael who was currently curled up in his bed, a book open in his lap and Magnus snoozing on the pillow next to him.

“What is what?” He wondered, squinting at the display of Ragnor’s tablet and it wasn't until the other was closer that he could identify what was shown—it was a website with pictures and a hand full of them were obviously showing Raphael next to Simon. So much for Maia not wanting to upload the photos.

“Uh, photos?”

“What have I told you about not drawing any attention to yourself?” Ragnor looked at him like a disappointed parent that had just found out their underage son had dared to get drunk. Raphael supposed his situation was probably worse than that.

“I’m aware but how would I know she’d upload the photos? She said she wouldn't,” he sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face, placing the book down and looking up at his protector with an apologetic expression.

“You should have told her not to take your picture in the first place or at least stressed that she’s not allowed to upload them,” Ragnor replied with an angry little frown but he looked mostly worried.

Raphael sighed and though he had more protest at the tip of his tongue, he swallowed it down and simply nodded with a muttered apology because he knew all Ragnor wanted was to protect him. Ragnor simply nodded back at him, expression still glum but be obviously knew he didn’t have to say anything more.

After Ragnor had left again, Raphael grabbed his laptop and went to look at Maia’s homepage but the photos with him had already disappeared from the site—Ragnor always did a fast job taking care of things that could cause danger to them in any way.

He still couldn’t help but feel sorry that Maia’s photos were gone now and the girl was probably pretty confused when she noticed someone had deleted them from her homepage but Raphael knew it was better this way. Part of him wished he had the opportunity to save the photos before they were deleted, though, since he didn't exactly own any pictures of himself with other people.

Raphael tried not to dwell on it and put his laptop aside again, reaching for his book to continue reading while Magnus shuffled closer, pressing up against the side of his thigh with a soft little meow that was followed by content purring when Raphael started caressing the cat’s head and back.

*******

“I can’t believe someone hacked by homepage and deleted some of my photos!”

Raphael had expected that Maia wouldn’t be too thrilled about the whole thing but she was apparently quite furious, glaring at no one in particular and Raphael almost ended up apologising but he knew that would be a quite suspicious thing to do.

“It seems like it's just the new photos I uploaded yesterday, the ones with you and...Simon,” she added, pausing a little before apparently remembering Simon’s name and Raphael scrunched up his nose slightly, shrugging.

“People are weird?” He offered, not really knowing what else to reply and Maia only huffed in return but didn’t say anything else on the topic.

They were sitting on the narrow wall in front of the school building, waiting for the first classes to start since they still had quite some time to spare. When Raphael had arrived at school, Maia had been sitting here already and waved him over to tell him about the photos.

“Hey, isn’t that Simon over there?” She suddenly interrupted Raphael’s thoughts and he looked up, following Maia’s line of sight where he did indeed spot Simon who was currently being cornered by this Jace-guy and another one of those dumb jocks. These guys really didn't seem to ever back off even for a day and Raphael felt annoyance bubble up inside of him.

“Are these guys always like this?” He asked out loud and he saw that Maia was frowning as well before she suddenly got to her feet.

“Yes, they are. But lately, their behaviour seems to have gotten even worse or at least Simon is apparently their new number one victim. Cowardly assholes,” she muttered and then, without warning, simply walked over to where these guys were hassling Simon.

Raphael’s eyes widened a little before he started moving as well, following Maia since he definitely wanted to help the other boy as well.

“Hey, you numbskulls! How about you stop trying to compensate for your ineptitude by bullying others?! Just because you’re only capable of being good at your dumb sports doesn’t make you almighty or give you the right to look down on others!”

Jace whirled around and his eyes widened a little, probably because he couldn’t believe that he was currently insulted by a girl—he seemed like the kind of guy who expected women to stay back and keep their mouths shut but Maia was the complete opposite of that type.

“Is it fun to be the biggest douchebag of the whole school?” Maia spat and Raphael barely managed to keep his mouth from twitching into a grin because of Jace’s disbelieving expression.

“The ladies seem to fancy me quite a lot so, yeah, it’s quite fun to be me,” he then replied and Maia rolled her eyes while crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“I have no idea what anyone would see in you. You’re an asshole, a coward and judging by your behaviour you clearly have to compensate for the lack of _something_ ,” Maia replied, clearly unimpressed when her gaze flickered over the other’s body and briefly lingered on Jace’s crotch to underline what she was talking about.

“How dare you—I don’t have—What a bitch!” Jace was clearly at a loss for words and his cheeks showed a few blotchy red spots of embarrassment or anger, it was hard to tell.

While Raphael managed to hide his amusement, especially when Maia took a step towards Jace who actually stepped back in return, Simon snorted under his breath despite still being wide-eyed from the bullying. His eyes flickered to the other boy and he raised an eyebrow which caused Simon to avert his gaze in embarrassment but neither of them said anything.

“Yeah, right. You don’t have anything to say for yourself so you lash out and insult others, well done. The only reason girls pay attention to you is that your stupid team is unreasonably popular and you look remotely okay but it definitely isn’t because of your foul personality,” Maia kept the commentary coming and Raphael almost started feeling sorry for Jace. Almost. The guy definitely deserved being told off, though.

“Come on, boys, let’s head inside before we catch some of his stupidity.” With that, Maia linked one arm with Simon's and one with Raphael’s, tugging the two boys along towards the school building. When Raphael glanced back, he saw Jace staring after them with an open mouth and pink cheeks from humiliation. It was certainly a better look on him that the smug smirk he seemed to wear most of the time.

“Maia, you’re incredible!”

“So I’ve been told,” she replied with a chuckle while Simon grinned widely, happily.

“Thank you for saving me from these assholes,” he added with a sincere smile. “I wish they would just stop treating me and others like this but I guess guys like that will never change.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re right with that assumption,” Maia agreed and then let go of the two boys, hoisting her camera bag properly up her shoulder again before brushing her hands over her skirt, smoothing the material down a little. “I have to get to art class now. See you boys around.”

With that, Maia grinned at both of them before disappearing into the crowd of other students that were milling around in the hallways. Raphael watched her go and shook his head, still amused that Maia had simply gone up to the school’s biggest douchebag and told him off without batting an eyelash.

“What’s your first class?” Simon’s voice interrupted his thoughts and Raphael looked at the other boy, expression thoughtful.

“History...I think.”

“You think?” Simon chuckled and curled his fingers around the strap of his backpack, looking back at Raphael with amusement in his eyes.

“It’s only my second week here, I don’t have the schedule memorised yet,” he huffed back in mock-indignation but he knew that they would have the third and fourth class together—chemistry.

“Okay, that’s a good point. So, have fun in your history class or whatever it is you have now. See you in chemistry,” Simon replied with a smile and waved at Raphael before he headed off as well to his own class.

Raphael sighed before pulling his schedule out of the side pocket of his bag to make sure he knew where he had to go and it turned out that he had indeed history in the first two lessons.

Which meant getting bored as hell because he already knew all the stuff they talked about in class but he knew it had to be and Raphael preferred going to school and being bored over spending all his time at home with Ragnor. He liked his protector and he was almost like a father to him but spending non-stop time with him still wasn’t something he was eager to do since Ragnor wasn’t the most talkative person a lot of the time.

It was just nice having different people around and feeling normal for a little while. As if he belonged here and was just another regular human teenager and not a being from a different planet that was on the run from other extraterrestrials wanting to kill him.

*******

“ _Ionic bonding is a type of chemical bond that involves the electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions and is the primary interaction occurring in ionic compounds_ ,” Simon read from his screen where he was sat in front of the computer at his desk and Raphael glanced up from the textbook that was spread out in his lap.

“Please tell me you’re not researching on Wikipedia,” Raphael pleaded, though even from his position on the other’s bed he could recognise the iconic layout of the website easily. He may not be human but he had long since picked up on the fact that Wikipedia was not a welcome source for information on educational facilities. It was always the first thing teachers warned them off of.

Sure, it was certainly the first stop for everyone who had to do research for a paper or presentation to get a first glance at their topic and basic information but in the end, they couldn’t use it as a reliable source anyway.

“Of course. Why not? It’s not like I actually want to use it but every article always has at least a few useful sources listed at the end,” Simon replied with an almost-pout, looking over his shoulder at Raphael before glancing back at his screen to continue reading.

“ _The ions are atoms that have gained one or more electrons—known as anions, which are negatively charged—and atoms that have lost one or more electrons—known as cations, which are positively charged_ ,” he continued to read out loud and Raphael leant back against the head of the bed because he couldn’t possibly concentrate on reading the text he had found on ionic bonds in their textbook with Simon feeling like he had to play a storyteller. “I’m torn between thinking this is interesting and being bored already.”

“I think it is interesting. Chemistry is definitely one of the more fun subjects at this school,” Raphael replied, thinking out loud, and the other boy looked at him with surprise written all over his face. Somehow, Raphael was pretty sure that Simon thought the exact same but had added the whole ‘being bored’ part simply because there were a lot of people who thought liking subjects like chemistry was stupid and ‘uncool’.

In Raphael’s opinion, a lot of people were stupid and uncool but he didn’t judge them for it either. He would never understand that this odd society basically forced people to act like they didn’t care about certain things in order to not get shit for it. Humans could be as fascinating as they were moronic.

“It actually is, yeah,” Simon admittedly in an almost-whisper and the smallest hint of a smile curved the corners of his mouth upwards. It was weirdly endearing to see and Raphael pushed the thought away that he kind of liked the fact that Simon started to relax a tiny bit more.

Ever since they had gotten the assignment for this project and Simon had awkwardly asked him to team up and meet at his place to work on it, the atmosphere had been a little bit tense but it seemed to get better by now. Raphael figured the other boy was simply insecure and wary of the reactions he might get when showing Raphael his home, his pretty nerdy room.

It was strange for Raphael to be in someone else’s home because it had rarely happened before but it was also really nice to actually see how regular people lived. Simon's shelves were packed with comics, novels, games and all kinds of knick-knacks while his unmade bed was nothing but pillows and blankets plus a worn looking plush otter.

The desk was also pretty cluttered as well and when they arrived, Simon had hastily thrown away an old pizza carton and empty soda cans.

This room was clearly lived-in and unexpectedly cosy in its own cramped way. Raphael definitely liked it here and despite his decision to not make friends anymore, he already knew he had failed this time. Not only with Simon but with Maia as well—he could see the three of them were already building a strange little friendship and Raphael felt unable to try and prevent it from happening.

“— _in order to obtain a full valence shell for both atoms_ ,” Simon’s voice filtered back into his awareness and Raphael blinked slowly, eyes drifting to the boy curled up in his desk chair. Simon’s elbows rested on top of his desk while his eyes followed the words on the screen, glasses slipped halfway down the bridge of his nose without him noticing.

Raphael had already become aware of some small habits of the other boy—like the way Simon adjusted his glasses by pressing the side of his left index finger against its bridge or how he started fiddling with his sleeves whenever he felt nervous or uncomfortable. The other boy apparently had no brain-to-mouth filter, blurring his thoughts out without abandon, and there was a spark in his brown eyes whenever he was happy about something.

Said spark had been there when Raphael agreed to do this presentation together and it had been there a moment ago when Raphael had mentioned that he thought this topic was actually interesting and not at all boring.

Simon tried to hide part of himself away but his eyes and body language were incredibly open and obvious if one just paid enough attention to the details. Raphael had long since discovered that he really enjoyed figuring out what made people tick and what little quirks they had.

“You are so not listening to a word I'm saying,” Simon cut through his thoughts once more and Raphael could help but sit up a little straighter, eyes focussing back on the other’s face rather than the small movement that made his chair swivel left and right.

“I am,” he defended himself, fully aware that he obviously wasn't and there was no way to deny it.

“If that’s so: tell me what the difference between _clean ionic bonding_ and _covalent bonding_ is.” Simon had a shit-eating grin on his face now, fully aware of the fact that Raphael was lying through his teeth with the whole paying attention thing.

Raphael muttered a not very eloquent “Uh” in return and despite knowing a damn lot of things about most stuff at school, this topic was actually not one of them and therefore he couldn't just bullshit his way out of his little lie.

“The clean bonding surely makes a much better impression than the state of your room,” was what came out of Raphael’s mouth for unknown reasons and Simon stared at him for a heartbeat before he burst out laughing.

“First you ignore that I'm talking to you, then you lie to my face and now you insult my room? Why did I ever thought it could be a wise idea to partner up with you?” Simon breathed out a long-suffering sigh and leant back in his chair, the back of his hand resting dramatically against his forehead and Raphael was tempted to throw a nearby pillow at the other’s head.

“I wasn't ignoring you. I was just—” He paused and shrugged, not quite knowing where he had been headed with this sentence when he started it.

“You were just—what? I didn't get that,” Simon teased and it was fascinating to see the other boy so confidently teasing all of a sudden.

Raphael’s heart stuttered a little in his chest for no apparent reason and he absently licked his bottom lip, eyebrows drawing together. “I was distracted.”

That wasn't at all the answer he wanted to give but there it was anyway. Simon’s non-existent filter had apparently rubbed off already.

“By—?” Simon tilted his head to the side, looking like a curious puppy with his lopsided glasses and big round eyes that were framed by the kind of thick, dark lashes that a lot of girls wished they had. Humans and their odd beauty-standards but Raphael couldn't deny that he got where they were coming from.

“Could you just repeat the section, please? I swear I’m paying attention from now on.” He did not want to figure out what had just happened and what was starting to shift inside of him. Changing the subject and diverting the attention back to the actual reason for their meeting seemed like the safest thing to do.

Simon frowned at him, an almost disappointed look flickering across his face so quickly that Raphael was sure he had imagined it, before turning back to his computer screen to re-read the section of the text that Raphael had zoned out during.

*******

Almost every class was pretty much boring from start to finish for Raphael and watching a clip about the Second World War was no exception since he had read a whole lot about this dark spot in the history of mankind already and it was incredibly depressing to imagine what terrible things humans had done to each other—still did to each other.

Sure, other beings from other planets were no better but that only made it worse since Raphael knew from experience how horrible it was when one race thought themselves off as better as another and started eradicating them. He had lost his family to just that, had fled his home planet and lived on the run ever since. He didn't need to learn any more about the human version of what he had been through.

Raphael tried to think of anything but the memories coming back to life in his mind and at first, he didn't even notice the way his hands seemed to warm up a little until, suddenly, there was a pale blue glow coming from his palms. Special abilities were one thing but nobody had told Raphael that he would end up turning into a living flashlight!

His eyes widened while the glowing became stronger and stronger, turning into proper and bright light that was pretty much impossible to hide in the classroom with turned off lights during the clip they were watching. Raphael felt his heartbeat pick up speed simultaneously with the light getting brighter and brighter.

“Hey, dude, what are you—”

Raphael felt a hand of his classmate against his upper arm and couldn't help but flinch, basically jumping up and out of his chair while hastily stuffing his hands into the pockets of his hoodie in a vain attempt to hide the now laser-like beams that were shooting out of his palms.

He fled the classroom, not knowing how else to react and panicking because if someone saw what was happening, he was definitely screwed and Ragnor would have his head for such a public display of ‘hey, I'm not from this world’, even though he didn't do this on purpose and apparently couldn't make it stop.

Raphael stumbled out of the classroom and into the hallway, feeling the first droplets of cold sweat forming on his forehead and the fine hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He had no idea where to go but he  _had to_ hide somewhere until he got whatever this was under control! The nearest hiding spot was, ironically, the damn janitor’s closet a few feet down the hallway and Raphael stumbled inside, pressing his back against the door to shut it and breathing heavily.

He pulled his hands free and the dark room was immediately lit by the neon-blue lights that were still streaming from the palms of his hands, feeling almost too hot to handle. Raphael cursed under his breath, shaking his hands as if that would do any good, and in an act of helplessness, he actually tried to somehow get this to stop by dunking his hands into the water-filled bucket standing at the side of the closet.

The water was nice and cool but it didn't do anything to make this freak show stop and Raphael already saw himself spend the rest of the day in here.

His whole body was shaking with the panic and helplessness of the situation and he flinched when the door was suddenly opened. Squinting against the light from the hallway, it took Raphael a moment to recognise who entered the closet: it was Ragnor.

“Ragnor, what are you doing here?” His breathing was still fast and panicked but Raphael was definitely glad it was Ragnor and not one of the other students seeing him like this.

His protector crouched down and motioned for Raphael to pull his hands out of the bucket, gently wrapping his finger around Raphael's lower arms to inspect his palms and the bright blue light emitted by them.

“Try to relax and calm down. You won't be able to control it if you’re panicking,” Ragnor said in a low, almost soft tone and his fingers pressed gently into Raphael’s skin.

“What is happening to me?”

“Your abilities are finally waking up,” his guardian replied, still holding on to his lower arms and looking at Raphael intently, silently prompting him to do what he was told. “Breathe. Calm down.”

“Easier said than done,” Raphael muttered, feeling his pulse still thrumming through his body but he did take a few deep breaths in an attempt to get the control over his body back. At first, it didn't seem to change anything but a few moments later, the lights seemed to dim a little and Raphael watched, fascinated, how the blue lights simmered down to a soft glow until they disappeared completely, leaving his palms looking as if nothing had happened.

“Are you alright? Did anyone see you like this??”

“I don't think so. At least I'm sure nobody saw that the lights were coming from my damn hands,” Raphael muttered and slumped back against the wall, relieved that the spook was over and he moved his fingers a little bit, as if expecting that his hands would feel different now but there was nothing indicating that anything was out of the ordinary.

“Okay, good. Are you alright?”

“You mean besides the fact that I just had my hands turn into flashlights in the middle of my class and had to hide in a damn janitor's closet without knowing what the fuck is happening to me? Peachy,” Raphael deadpanned but felt the corners of his mouth twitch when Ragnor actually huffed in amusement at that before lightly ruffling his hair.

“I’m sorry this happened, though it’s technically good your abilities are showing now because that means you’re getting stronger. If I had known what kind of abilities you had, I would have warned you but it’s different for everyone else.”

“It’s not your fault and, luckily, nothing actually bad happened. It was a damn good scared, though,” Raphael sighed and he was incredibly grateful for having Ragnor watching out for him. “Wait, why are you even here?”

Ragnor sighed and got up from his crouched position, grabbing Raphael’s hand to pull him to his feet as well. “I am your protector and that means we have a... _bond_ , you could call it. I felt that something was up.”

Raising his eyebrows, Raphael looked up at his guardian when Ragnor opened the door of the closet so they could finally step out into the hallway again and see properly. He had to squint a little bit at first but that didn’t stop Raphael from rolling his eyes at the other.

“Being a little overprotective, huh?” He teased and then laughed when Ragnor softly nudged his fist again Raphael’s shoulder.

“It’s kind of in my job description, kid.”

“Jobs usually get paid.”

“Your wellbeing is payment enough.”

“You’re the worst,” Raphael snorted but he felt himself relax again after this shock and he grinned at Ragnor who then suggested heading ‘home’ and grab something to eat on the way—”No worries, I will write an excuse note for you and it’s not like you will actually miss anything important here”—and after all of this, Raphael readily agreed to the suggestion.

Right now, all he wanted to do was figure out what exactly was happening to him and even if Ragnor didn’t know about all the different possible abilities, he surely had to have some kind of idea of how Raphael’s abilities could be handled and hopefully trained into something useful.

*******

“This tastes horrible! Why would anyone drink this?!” Simon grimaced and pushed the cup back towards Maia who tried to glare at him but failed when she lost her fight against the laughter bubbling up in her throat.

“It’s delicious, you ignoramus! Besides, it’s certainly healthier than the crap you’re putting in your body,” she replied, clearly unimpressed, and Raphael shook his head in silent amusement but refrained from adding to the conversation because it was funnier to just sit and listen to the other two bickering.

“You don’t even know what I’m putting into my body!” Simon complained back and then paused, eyes widening a little. “Okay, that sounded wrong.”

“It didn’t until you said this,” Maia pointed out, scrunching up her nose in disgust at whatever thought had popped into her mind at Simon’s statement.

“Shut up.”

“You shut up!”

“You’re both ridiculous,” Raphael finally interrupted with barely contained laughter before taking a sip of his own drink.

It was admittedly pretty nice, just hanging out in a cheap little coffee shop after school on a sunny day like this. Raphael had never really made this experience before since he usually kept his distance and avoided making friends but by now he definitely couldn’t deny that the three of them were exactly that—friends. Sure, they were all quite different but it somehow seemed to fit oddly well and Raphael felt comfortable with Maia and Simon around.

Maia always had her camera on hand, taking photos of everything and everyone around, while Simon was unable to ever shut up, always rambling on about the most random stuff, and it was weirdly comfortable spending time with them. Raphael already knew this city would be the most difficult place to leave behind, especially since Ragnor hadn’t yet decided that it was time to move on so it seemed like they would spend some more time here.

“So, what are your plans this afternoon?” Maia changed the topic before taking a sip of her own drink, leaning back in her chair and crossing one leg over the other, looking from one boy to the other with a curiously quirked eyebrow.

“Honestly? Probably sitting at home and playing some games,” Simon shrugged and his cheeks pinked a little.

Raphael had noticed that this seemed to be a pretty common reaction of the other boy—blushing in embarrassment, especially when Maia was around. It wasn’t the first Raphael noticed this and it also wasn’t the first time that he considered that maybe...maybe Simon had a crush on her? The fact that it somehow bothered him to even consider this was something Raphael definitely didn’t want to think about. Other people’s feelings were none of his business and until now he had never felt compelled to change that.

“Sounds...interesting,” Maia replied and it wasn’t the first time she had made it clear that she really wasn’t into games and all that. She did like movies, especially very scenic ones since she was into photography and was always looking for something that was pleasing to the eye. “I’m first going to do my homework and then head out to hopefully take some good pictures.”

“You always take good pictures. Amazing ones, really.” Simon grinned a little awkwardly and Raphael barely swallowed a sigh, suddenly wishing he had an excuse to leave already so he didn’t have to watch this clumsy crush unfold further. The fact that Maia apparently didn’t feel the same way only made the situation more awkward to witness.

“Do you even know anything about photography?”

“Uh. Not so much?”

“So how do you know the pictures are actually good?” Maia asked but it was more teasing than serious. She clearly wanted to get a rise out of Simon but the other simply shrugged sheepishly and muttered something about only having wanted to pay her a compliment because he did like her pictures. “It’s okay, Simon. I only wanted to tease you a little.”

Raphael almost sighed but swallowed the sound with another sip of his drink, glancing up when he felt Maia’s eyes land on him.

“What about you? Any plans today?”

He shrugged and, honestly, there was no other plan than probably keep on figuring out his new abilities and learning control over these damn lights but he couldn’t exactly say that. “No idea, maybe study a little bit or watch a movie.”

“You boys are in dire need of proper hobbies, you know that?” Maia laughed and then placed her empty cup on the table after taking the last sip of it, stretching her arms out over her head before pushing up from her seat. “Okay, I’ll head out now. You boys have fun with whatever you end up doing today. See you at school tomorrow.”

She smiled at both of them before giving each a short hug and then slung her camera bag over her shoulder before walking towards the door of the coffee shop, the bell above it ringing softly when the door opened and closed. Raphael briefly watched Maia walk off before shaking his head to himself and turning back to Simon who seemed to be watching him but quickly averted his gaze when Raphael faced him again.

“Any movie, in particular, you plan on watching later?”

“Honestly? No. I’m either going to pick one randomly or head out a little, explore the area some more,” Raphael answered with a small shrug and he had mostly said the movie thing to say anything that wasn’t ‘I’m going to train my non-human abilities since I’m an alien from another planet’.

“I would offer to show you around but there’s not really much to see. It’s a rather boring town,” Simon said with a crooked grin and played with his own cup, raising it to his lips to take a sip before pushing his glasses back up his nose with his other hand.

“I actually like it here. It’s nice than the other places we’ve been to before,” Raphael admitted with a shrug and it was the truth. Sure, it had probably more to do with the people than the town itself but he didn’t have to say that out loud.

“How many different places have you moved to?”

“I have honestly no idea. A lot. We basically move every few months,” Raphael answered before he could stop himself. He knew he should really talk about their situation in any way because it would only lead to more questions and possibly get them in trouble if the wrong person heard about it.

“Every few months?? So...that means you will move again soon? Why, though?” Simon looked at him with wide eyes and Raphael wondered why the other boy seemed so unhappy about this but he didn’t stop to think about it since he had to come up with a remotely plausible answer.

“We have to move so much because of my dad’s work but I’m used to it and it’s also kind of cool, seeing so many different places,” he settled on answering, though it didn't sound too convincing since it was damn hard to pretend not minding something that actually bothered you like hell.

“I suppose it must be but it also sounds like a pretty restless life...and lonely,” Simon replied and smiled almost sadly at Raphael who didn't quite know what to make of this.

“I have Ragnor—my dad—” It would never not be weird referring to Ragnor like this “and my cat, Magnus.”

“You have a cat called Magnus?” Simon chuckled and leant forward, elbows resting on top of the table while his fingers were still wrapped around his mostly empty cup. “That's kind of a cool name. Unusual, but cool. What kind of—”

Raphael raised his eyebrows when the other boy suddenly paused, eyes having trailed outside through the big window of the café and suddenly an uneasy feeling spread in Raphael’s stomach. “What is it?”

“Uh, nothing. Just...there’s some weird looking guy out there? Not that I'm so shallow that I judge people based on their appearance but he does seem...strange...in a not so good way?” Simon rambled awkwardly and nodded towards the window, at least trying to be a little subtle about it instead of obviously pointing at the man he was talking about.

Raphael swallowed and turned around in his seat a little, eyes quickly finding the person Simon was referring to. The guy was on the other side of the street and even in human form, it wasn't too hard to figure out that this wasn't actually an inhabitant of this planet. The weird tattoos on the man’s face and neck weren't just tattoos, it was the mark of the It’ahr warriors.

“ _Fuck_!” He breathed and didn't even think before he jumped to his feet with wide eyes, heart hammering a mile a minute because so far he hadn't seen one of them again ever since fleeing from his home planet so this was more than just a slight shock. Those that were out to kill him, that were responsible for his family’s death, had finally caught up after all these years and Raphael felt absolutely helpless.

“Raphael? What's going on? Do you know this guy??”

He was unable to react to Simon's words, eyes still glued on the figure that was now about to cross the road and Raphael knew he had to get the hell out of here before he was spotted because that would be certain death!

Raphael grabbed his backpack and turned around, eyes scanning the room to figure out a way to get out of here without using the front door that would only make him stumble right into the It’ahr’s arms.

“Raphael?!”

Not paying any attention to the confused, worried boy, Raphael slung his backpack over his shoulder and went for the door next to the counter that read “staff only—the barista called out for him that he wasn't allowed to go in there but Raphael preferred staying alive over being considered about the rules so he burst through the door and made a run for it while fumbling for his phone, hitting speed-dial.

‘Raphael? Is everything—’

“No, no it’s not! They’re here!” He panted into the phone, interrupting Ragnor’s questions since there was no time for manners and niceties. Raphael did not appreciate the life or death situation he was suddenly acutely aware of and he flung around at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder, phone slipping from his grasp during the movement and clattering to the asphalt when he had just gotten out through the staff entrance of the coffee shop.

“Raphael, seriously, what is going on??” Simon stared at him with wide eyes, slightly out of breath from hurrying after him and Raphael simultaneously felt like hugging and punching this moron from scaring him out of his mind, making him think the It’ahr was right behind him.

“Nothing, it’s—nothing!”

“Sure as hell doesn’t look like nothing when you run off in a panic as soon as you spotted this tattooed guy out there! Don’t take me for a fool, Raphael,” the other replied, actually rolling his eyes at Raphael and then crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Raphael huffed in annoyance, glancing around to find his phone and picking it up but the screen was black with several cracks and he cursed under his breath since he hadn’t even been able to tell Ragnor where the hell he was.

“Simon, listen to me! I can’t explain to you what is going on but believe me, you have to get out of here and stay away from me because this is no joke!” He looked at the other boy and prayed for Simon to just roll with it and not ask even more questions or refuse to listen to him, though he was pretty sure that was exactly what was about to happen.

“You do realise that all of this is damn strange and that I’m not just going to listen without some explanation?” Simon replied, as expected, and Raphael grit his teeth before stuffing his broken phone into his pocket and then grabbing the other boy’s wrist to tug him along when he got back to running because had no desire to stick around until the It’ahr warrior popped up here and spotted him.

Since he couldn’t explain or have the time to make Simon listen, he had to physically drag the other boy away from here because if the It’ahr saw him with Raphael, he would be a target as well and there was no way he would let it come to this.

“Okay, this is really starting to freak me out. Would you _please_ tell me what is going on and why you’re scared out of your mind because of this guy?!” Simon stumbled after him and now he sounded at least half as panicked as Raphael felt.

He was already sorry for dragging Simon into this mess, though he definitely didn’t plan on really getting him involved in all of this—as soon as they were safe, he would steer clear of the other boy and since Ragnor and he would definitely move again after this, Simon would be out of harm’s way soon enough.

“I can’t explain it. I can’t tell you. I’m sorry, this was never supposed to happen,” Raphael replied and after running a few blocks, he pulled the other boy into a small backstreet, pressing up against the brick wall while his hand was still circled around Simon’s wrist, feeling the other’s racing pulse underneath the pads of his fingers.

“And you won’t at least try? You fled from that place as if the devil itself was after you and then you can’t even give me the slightest explanation for it? Come on, Raphael...I thought we’re friends? You can trust me,” Simon pleaded in between quick breaths, his head leant back against the rough bricks and tilted to the side to look at Raphael, his eyes wide and almost beseeching, asking him for answers and trust. Raphael knew he couldn’t offer either of these things.

“I’m sorry but I really can’t. We shouldn’t have become friends in the first place, it was stupid of me,” he sighed and it pained him to say this but that didn’t make his words untrue. Raphael shouldn’t have made friends here and now he had been this close to dragging an innocent human into everything—a human who would die instantly if he were to get face to face with one of the It’ahr.

“You don’t mean that.” Simon’s voice was barely above a whisper and he sounded unexpectedly hurt. “You don’t honestly regret our friendship?”

Raphael swallowed and everything in him screamed to say _no, of course he didn’t regret it_ , but he had to distance himself from the other boy for Simon’s safety so he pushed the truth away and nodded. “I do.”

He could almost hear Simon gritting his teeth and then the other boy stepped away from the wall, yanking his wrist free from Raphael’s grip and taking another step back, further away from Raphael. “If that’s truly the case, I won’t bother you again.”

Watching Simon walk away with slumped shoulders and his pained expression etched into his mind was harder than Raphael had expected but it had been the right decision. He couldn’t tell Simon what was actually going on, _what he actually was_ , so breaking everything off was his only choice. Hopefully, Simon now being angry with him would at least make it easier for the other boy when Raphael would surely have disappeared until the morning, moved away from here to...wherever else.

*******

“We have to leave, _now_!”

It wasn't like Raphael hadn't expected this reaction and he was wildly aware of the fact that they had to pack up and get away but there was something holding him back. Some unfamiliar feeling was tugging at his heart and pleading with him to stay, to stand his ground and fight.

“What are you waiting for, kid?! Get your things!” Ragnor was already packing up all the equipment he used to track signs of the It’ahr, stuffing cables into bags and wrapping up monitors to protect them from another bumpy ride.

“I don't know,” Raphael said hesitantly, still unable to get moving, “it just feels...wrong?”

“What are you talking about? The It’ahr are here and will kill both of us—what is there even remotely wrong about hauling our asses out of here?!” Ragnor looked at him with an incredulous expression and Raphael knew he should feel the same about it but, for some reason, he didn't.

“I don’t know, it’s—” Raphael paused when, suddenly, the memory of Simon’s expression and the sound of this voice earlier echoed in his mind. It was unexpected and he wondered if simply his guilt about having treated the other boy shitty was keeping him back now but it wasn’t that. There was...something more to it. There was more to Simon. “—it’s someone in this town, from school.”

Ragnor stared at him but then he suddenly straightened up, brows furrowing and there was some sense of realisation about his whole expression that Raphael didn’t quite like. It seemed like the other knew what was going on, what this meant, and Raphael wasn’t too sure if he wanted to know it as well.

“You like that person.” It wasn’t a question, just a simple statement.

“Well, yeah. We’re friends, kind of,” Raphael replied with confusion and he supposed they weren’t friends anymore. “He was with me, earlier, when I saw the It’ahr warrior and he wanted to know what was going on but I couldn’t exactly tell so...we had a fight and now he probably thinks I don’t like him.”

It sounded so inane and insignificant, especially compared to the dire situation they were currently in, but it bothered Raphael more than he had realised. He didn’t want Simon to think they weren’t friends or that Raphael didn’t want to be friends. He didn’t want to leave, not like this and...not at all, if he was being honest. This was the first place that made Raphael want to stay because he had made friends—not just Simon but Maia as well.

“Of course, you had to pick the worst timing imaginable to find them,” Ragnor sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, eyes flitting through the room where everything was in a state of chaos, most things already packed up.

“ _Them_? What do you mean?”

“We—our kind—we don’t...we’re not like humans. We don’t ‘fall in love’ the way they do and it also doesn’t happen multiple times. There is one person we’re meant to be with and once we connect with them in any way it’s...probably impossible to let go.”

Raphael blinked at that confusing explanation while Ragnor cringed at his own inability to form a more coherent statement.

“Are you trying to tell me that Simon is my _soulmate_?”

“I guess you could call it that, though I’m not sure the human word encompasses the true dimensions of what this means but the basic concept is the same, I suppose,” Ragnor sighed and then looked at Raphael with an unreadable expression. “We still need to leave, at least for now. We can come back some other time but right now it’s too dangerous. It won’t be easy, though.”

“What is going to happen if I leave here?” He had to know, though his mind was still trying to process this change of events.

“You already notice it—that feeling that’s holding you back and stopping you from actively working towards leaving here. It’s only going to get stronger and harder to resist but you’ll have to fight it. It’s too dangerous to stay, not just for you but for him as well. We can’t risk dragging some innocent human into all of this but I doubt I’ll have to explain that to you.”

Raphael nodded and that was certainly the last thing he wanted to do. There was no way he would endanger Simon and risk him getting hurt or worse. Still, it also felt terrible to leave after this kind-of-fight they had earlier and what if the It’ahr somehow found out that Simon had been in contact with him? The thought alone sent a shiver down his spine.

“Will he be safe, though? If we leave?” He voiced his concerns and now Raphael felt selfish for having insisted on going to school. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have met Simon and they would be able to just leave this place without further complications.

“I can’t promise this but leaving is a lot better than staying, believe me. You only just started to develop your abilities and if you train hard from now on, it won’t be too much longer until you’ll be strong enough to go find the others,” Ragnor replied and Raphael wondered what ‘not too much longer’ meant. Weeks, months or years? He assumed the latter.

“The others. Those that are left of them, you mean,” Raphael muttered bitterly and the reason they had moved here in the first place had been the fact that another one of his generation had been killed by the It’ahr. He had felt it, since all of them were somehow connected, and it had been awful. It hadn’t been the first time Raphael had felt one of the others die painfully—three of them were gone which meant there were only four left, him included, if the prophecy was right.

Ragnor sighed but he clearly held back from starting one of his usual monologues about how important it was to find the last remaining few of their kind, how they would only be able to fulfil the prophecy together and how slim their chances were getting with each loss. Raphael knew they couldn’t afford to lose anyone else because otherwise, the It’ahr would start eradicating the next planet as soon as they were finished with them.

“How long until we can come back here?”

“Raphael,” Ragnor sighed and his eyes were almost pleading now.

They had no time for discussions, Raphael knew that, but he had to know.

“I don’t know the answer to that but it surely won’t be anytime soon. A year or two, maybe more.”

Raphael’s shoulders slumped despite having predicted such a timespan and every cell in his body seemed to protest now, pleading with him to not go. If he left now, out of the blue and after the conversation he had had with Simon earlier, the other would definitely not forgive him if he disappeared for a few years and then suddenly showed up again.

“I can’t just leave for a few years! At least not without saying goodbye,” Raphael decided and he knew this was reckless but he had to at least try to make things right before leaving.

“Raphael, no! We have to leave _now_! Go pack your things and get in the car.”

“Sorry, I can’t. I’ll be quick, I promise.” He was reaching for the door before even realising he had started moving but Ragnor’s hand curling around his upper arm in an iron grip made him pause.

“Don’t you dare! I’ve done everything to keep you safe and I didn’t do that only so that you could walk out that door and right into their arms, kid!” Ragnor was clearly angry now, his skin shimmering with a hint of green that made Raphael realise how angry the other truly was—his protector never lost control over his disguise like this. He hadn’t seen the slightest hint of Ragnor’s actual skin colour in ages.

“I will be careful, I promise, but I won’t be able to go until I talked to Simon,” Raphael replied, pleading, and he felt Ragnor’s grip loosen just the smallest bit. Enough for him to break free and yank open the door. “I’ll be back before you know it!”

With that, he set off into a sprint and though he could hear Ragnor yell his name and run after him, the other wasn’t able to catch him again. Apparently, one of Raphael’s new abilities was speed and he used it to dash through the forest surrounding the area their house was in. He didn’t even know where exactly Simon lived but a feeling told him that he didn’t have to know—he would find Simon anyway.

*******

Raphael was out of breath and he absently registered that his shirt was sticking to his chest but he couldn’t pay too much attention to that fact. He was standing in front of a house that was possibly—hopefully—the place where Simon lived, even though the name on the mailbox wasn’t Lewis but _Epshtein_.

He mentally prepared for knocking at the wrong door and having to explain the reason for it somehow but before his finger could press the button for the doorbell, another door further to his left suddenly opened and none other than Simon called his name.

“What the hell are you doing here??” The other boy asked in a slightly hushed voice, ushering Raphael into the smaller side building that turned out to be a pretty cluttered garage with an old, partly covered car next to an old, slightly rusty truck.

“Uh, looking for you?” Raphael offered and he was not used to feeling awkward around anyone but here he was, suddenly unsure if he really should have come. He didn’t even know what it was he wanted to tell the other boy, Just “goodbye” and “see you in a few years, maybe” would be a damn odd thing to do.

“Why? I thought we’re not friends.” The pain in Simon’s voice was obvious, even though he clearly tried to hide it, and Raphael’s heart stumbled against his ribs at the realisation that he had definitely hurt the other in his attempt to protect him.

“I wanted to apologise for what I said. We are friends and I don’t regret befriending you but...it’s not safe,” he stammered, a little helpless and at an impractical loss for words.

Simon frowned at him, understandably not following his line of thought. “You make no sense. Why isn’t it safe? Wait! Is it because of this guy outside the café earlier? That must be it!”

“Yes. Yes, it is but I can’t explain it, even if I had the time.” Raphael pushed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, his breathing still a little elevated from running the whole way. His eyes followed every movement of the other boy—how Simon was unable to stand still and walked up and down next to the old truck, eyebrows furrowed in a confused frown and eyes flickering left and right as if looking for an answer in his surroundings rather than asking them outright.

“My father said something very similar before he disappeared,” Simon suddenly muttered and it was definitely not at all what Raphael had expected to hear next.

“Your father disappeared?”

The other boy nodded and grit his teeth before whirling around, hands curled into fists and eyes hardened with determination. “What is happening? Who is this strange person you’re running from? Why are they after you? Do you know anything about my father?”

Raphael had come here, expecting the first questions but the latter topic definitely threw him a little off. He hadn’t known Simon’s father had disappeared and he wondered if that had anything to do with the name on the mailbox but this probably wasn’t the right moment to ask about that detail.

“It would take too long to explain and I don’t have the—”

“You don’t have the time for that, yeah, I got it. Come on, you have to give me _something_ or did you just come here to sow more confusion and nonsense?”

“Okay. Alright. But...could you tell me about what happened to your father first?”

Simon almost glared at him but then his shoulders slumped and he bit his lip before taking a deep breath and nodding. “He disappeared when I was, like, five. Nobody knows why or how—one evening he was tucking me into bed and the morning he was _gone_. Most people said it had only been a matter of time since he was only the crazy guy to most of them because of his obsession with alien life or whatever.”

That last bit made Raphael prick up his ears and he stepped a small bit closer to the other boy before realising he was moving and stopping himself mid-step, curling his own fingers against his palms where they were still stuffed into the pockets of his hoodie.

“He was obsessed with ‘alien life’? How so?” That could only really mean two things—either Simon’s father had been one of these weird ufo chasing people searching for the little green men or he actually had known something that had led to his disappearance. Raphael couldn’t quite imagine the latter being the case but he had long since learned that sometimes the weirdest coincidences happened.

“Yeah, he was convinced to be on the trail of extraterrestrials and it wasn’t like these insane people who actually believe aliens are these green figures with oval faces and big black eyes. Though I guess he was probably just insane in a different way because there had never been any actual truth to his blabbering, as far as I know,” Simon replied in a rather small voice, understandably still not over losing his father in such a way. It had to be horrible, having a parent disappear and not knowing what had happened to them.

Raphael knew how hard it was to actually be present and witness your family dying but he supposed it also made it easier to cope with everything in the long run. Not knowing where someone had gone and if they were even still alive made it all the harder to get closure and move on from such an incident.

“My family was never the same after that and most people here treated us like we were all crazy by association. It’s also the reason mom and Rebecca—my older sister—moved away a few years ago. I refused to go with them because I still want to figure out what happened to my dad. I need to know what happened to him and why!”

“I get that,” Raphael replied softly and almost stepped closer again, barely stopping himself from closing the distance between them.

“I sincerely doubt that and I get it, it does sound crazy and like my father was some kind of nut job—and maybe he was, I was too young to actually remember—but he’s still my dad.”

“Simon,” he interjected carefully and now Raphael did take a small step closer, holding his palms up in a placating gesture while looking directly into Simon’s dark eyes, the storm of emotions whirling in their depth, “I mean it. _I get that_. I lost my family and though I know what happened because I was right there...I suppose it was, in a twisted way, better to have seen it than not knowing what had happened. To not be sure if they were actually gone or might still be out there.”

Simon stared back at him, eyes wide and lips parted in silent shock while the last bit of colour seemed to have drained from his face upon hearing Raphael’s story.

“I had no idea,” the other boy breathed and it sounded like he had trouble getting his vocal cords to even form these few words and Raphael almost ended up smiling at the empathic response.

“Of course not. I never told anyone about it.” He hoped Simon understood the meaning of this and the trust Raphael put in him by offering this personal information.

“You said...you lost your family? But you still have your father.”

“Ragnor isn’t actually my father. He’s more of a...very close family friend who had promised to take care of me and that’s what he has been doing ever since. He is kind of like a father and a big brother in one. It’s just easier to tell people he’s my actual father than trying to explain the situation because it’s honestly much more complicated than it sounds right now.”

“Now I really want to hear the story behind that but, I know, no time right now. Which brings me back to the whole ‘what the hell does this guy want from you’ deal.”

Raphael breathed out a sigh and pushed his fingers through his hair, briefly biting down on his bottom lip. “Like I said, it’s complicated but...there isn’t just one guy and they’re dangerous. _Life or death_ kind of dangerous.”

“That sounds...bad.”

Under different circumstance, Raphael might have laughed at this conclusion but right now the last thing he felt like was laughing. There was no time and he was already wasting too much of the time he didn’t have.

“Listen, I came here to apologise for earlier and to say that you are my friend—if you still want to be—but also to tell you that I have to leave,” Raphael circled back to the actual reason of running all the way here and he saw Simon’s eyes widen at the last part.

“Leave? What do you mean ‘you have to leave’?”

“It’s not safe here for me. They’re here because of me and if they find me”—Raphael interrupted himself and grimaced, not really capable to put into words what would happen if the It’ahr did figure out he was actually here—”That’s why we always move and only stay in one place for a short amount of time, so they can’t find us. So they can’t find me.”

The other boy stared at him as if he was the one now losing his mind and maybe he was. Raphael certainly felt like he was losing the grasp on his sanity because a part of him suddenly didn’t want to run. That part of him wanted to stay and fight because he finally found a space he could imagine himself calling home again. Raphael didn’t want to be on the run anymore and to lose this place but most of all he dreaded the thought of leaving Simon behind.

“Will you come back? Please tell me you will come back.” The words basically burst out of Simon who was the one to close the last bit of distance between them, stepping right into Raphael’s personal space and curling his hands around Raphael’s upper arms as if that gesture could stop him from leaving.

“I will or at least I will try but...it’ll be a while. Ragnor said something about one or two years, maybe more,” Raphael answered with a heavy sigh and the thought alone tugged painfully at his heart. He wasn’t used to feeling this way. Raphael had never actually minded moving around for anything but the fact that he wanted a home but parting with places or the people there had never been the issue before now.

“Two years or more?? Are you serious?”

“I'm afraid so,” he sighed with a shrug and it seemed like there was nothing to be done about it.

Simon looked like a kicked puppy now, corners of his mouth turned down and eyes shining unhappily but he refrained from voicing any of the emotions currently playing on his face. Raphael felt shitty for putting this expression there in the first place, though it was also weirdly nice to see that he had such an effect on the other boy.

“That sucks,” Simon muttered and dropped his hand from where they had still been gripping Raphael’s upper arms. “So you have to head back now and leave right away?”

Raphael answered this question with just a nod and an apologetic expression. He should definitely get back to Ragnor now, the other was definitely pissed enough already and the upcoming drive would not be any fun at all.

“You mentioned you live out of town, right? How did you get here?”

“Uh, I—I ran?”

“...of course you did.” Simon looked incredulous but there was a hint of amusement in his voice as well. “How about I give you a ride back?”

Simon patted the hood of the old truck and Raphael was torn between accepting the offer and declining it to keep the other boy away and save. He knew he shouldn't agree but Raphael felt himself unable to make the right decision, giving in to the part that wanted at least a few more minutes with the other boy before being away for _years_.

“I don’t know, that might be a bad idea.”

“Come on, I’m sure it’ll be fine and that way it’s certainly safer for you. You’ll be back faster and can get out of here soon,” Simon replied and he did have a point there.

Raphael sighed but then ended up nodding anyway, especially when the other boy was looking at him with pleading puppy eyes. Simon’s lips curled into a grin when Raphael gave in and he basically dashed out of the garage with an “I’ll get the keys, wait a sec” before coming back maybe half a minute later.

“It’s none of my business and you don’t have to tell me more about it but...what happened to your family? Was it an accident?” Simon asked while he pulled out of the driveway, the truck creaking a little at the movement.

“It wasn’t an accident. It was an explosion,” Raphael replied in almost a whisper, casting his gaze out of the window and pushing back the memories that were threatening to come up again.

“An explosion? But it wasn’t an accident? Sounds like—no! You can’t mean that they were—”

“Killed, yeah,” he finished Simon’s sentence and his voice sounded dull to his own ears but Raphael tried to push through this heavy feeling, shaking his head a little to clear his mind and get his bearings back.

A heavy silence settled over them for a moment after his words and Raphael wasn’t too sure if he should be proud or worried that he had managed to make the other boy speechless.

“They did this, didn’t they?”

Raphael blinked and glanced at Simon before pointing out that the other should take the next turn right. They were pretty close to his home now and he partly regretted being back so quickly because it meant actually saying goodbye to the other.

“They?”

“You said there wasn’t just this one guy and I guess _they_ are the ones who did this to you and your family or am I wrong?”

He couldn’t deny that Simon was pretty smart and attentive, even though this probably hadn’t been too hard to put together. “No, you’re not.”

“When you said it was complicated, I really didn’t imagine some kind of assassins on your ass kind of situation or whatever these guys are. Makes me wonder who _you_ are that such people are after you.”

“I wouldn’t call them people,” Raphael interjected and his stomach churned a little when Simon had said the whole ‘makes me wonder who you are’ part because the other boy had no clue that the answer to that was pretty much insane and probably proof that Simon’s father wasn’t crazy at all—if he wasn’t of the ufo chasing type.

Simon drove up the gravel path to the house and stopped close to the wooden stairs leading up to the front door. Raphael reached to pull open the passenger side door but paused when he noticed that the front door was open, just a crack. He frowned and a bad feeling settled in his stomach, spreading through his whole body and causing him to push the door open and jump out of the truck without paying attention to Simon worriedly calling his name.

He was up the stairs and in the house in a heartbeat, Ragnor’s name on his lips, but there was no answer other than a distressed meowing when Magnus raced down the stairs.

“Hey, buddy, what happened?” Raphael muttered while lifting the cat up to his chest, caressing it with his free hand while scanning the room that was a complete mess. The neatly stacked bags and boxes were thrown across the room, the few things that hadn’t been packed up were all over the place as well, a broken monitor lying underneath a just as broken window.

“Raphael, what—Holy shit! What happened?!” Simon skidded to a stop and almost bumped into Raphael, his eyes wide while he looked around as well, taking in the damage.

“I shouldn’t have left! If I hadn’t left we would be on the road now.” The It’ahr must have found them and taken Ragnor, there was no other explanation, and it was all Raphael’s fault. There was only a slim chance his protector was still alive and if so, it was only as bait to lure Raphael in since he was the one they were actually after. Everyone else was just collateral damage to them.

“I have to find him,” he added with a sudden rush of adrenaline, pumping through his veins and mixing with the sense of panic that was trying to overwhelm his senses.

“You...what? Are you insane?? We have to call the cops and inform them that there was a fight and a kidnapping—man-napping?—and _they_ have to find him. It’s their job! You can’t possibly think you stand a chance against some maniacs that literally blew up your whole family!” Simon stared at him with wide eyes and a pale face but even that couldn’t stop Raphael from sticking to his decision to go look for Ragnor.

“I might be insane but I won’t drag anyone else into this. The cops can’t help—they’ll only end up dead if I get them involved. And so are you so get back in the truck and go home!” Raphael took Magnus and thrust him against Simon’s chest so the other boy had no other choice but to curl his arms around the protesting animal. “Take care of him.”

“So you’re just thrusting your cat at me and send me away before running straight after some maniacs that want you dead, am I getting this right? Do you realise how messed up this is?!” Simon sounded borderline hysteric by now and Magnus in his arms was probably the only reason his limbs weren’t flailing all over the place.

“Believe me, I know that but there’s no other choice. If there is even the smallest chance to get Ragnor out of this alive, I have to take it! But I won’t drag anyone else into this. I can’t. Enough people have died already.” Raphael was aware that his words probably didn’t make the situation any better and they certainly didn’t make him sound less insane but he honestly couldn’t care less right now. Ragnor was in danger or possibly dead already and he would not stand idly by to let it happen. This was happening because of him and Raphael would either get his protector back in one piece or die trying!

*******

“This is absolutely nuts.”

Raphael gave in and glared at the other boy now, having heard this line for at least twenty times in the last half hour and the other’s fidgeting certainly didn't help the situation either.

“You insisted on sticking around despite knowing that you will most likely end up dead so you really don't get to tell me that this is insane. I'm here because I don't have a choice while you chose to be here,” Raphael pointed out and drummed his fingers against the dashboard.

Nothing much had happened in the half hour other than them searching the house for any clue about where they might have taken Ragnor and the last ten minutes they had merely driven around in the truck since they had no clue what else to do and Raphael felt incredibly anxious, like he was failing the person who had devoted such a big part of his life protecting him.

Suddenly, Raphael’s phone started vibrating and ringing in his pocket, announcing an incoming call. He fumbled for the device that almost slipped out of his shaky fingers, especially when he saw the caller ID, but he managed to grab it properly and answer the call with a breathless “Ragnor”.

‘Guess again,’ an unknown voice replied and it's sound sent a cold shiver down Raphael’s spine because there were barely any emotions in it.

“What did you do to him?! Where is he?!”

Simon jumped a little next to him but then slowed down the car to park at the side of the road before turning around to face Raphael, his expression worried and anxious.

‘Don’t tell me you want that old man back? He’s useless. You on the other hand…’ The voice trailed off into rough laughter, making it sound like the guy on the other end had smoked a pack of cigarettes and downed a whole bottle of whiskey before calling.

“I know you don’t want him! Tell me where you are and I will come there if you promise to let him go,” Raphael replied and he prayed that Ragnor was even still alive, though he doubted these guys would tell him if it wasn’t the case. If Ragnor was still alive, he would surely tell Raphael to get out of here and leave him be instead of trying to save him but there was absolutely no way he could do that.

Instead of answering, there was more laughter and then the line went dead. Raphael stared at his phone and was this close to just throwing the useless thing out of the window when it suddenly beeped with a new text message that contained nothing but an address.

“Do you know where this is?” Raphael asked, showing the message to Simon who looked at pale as Raphael felt but there was no time to worry about anything but Ragnor.

Simon blinked and pushed his glasses further up his nose to read the message, squinting thoughtfully before he nodded. “Yeah, it’s about ten minutes from here.”

“Then let’s go.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I get that you want to save Ragnor but this seems quite risky and like you’re really just running head first into your death. Shouldn’t we come up with a plan that might get all of us out of this alive?” Simon’s fingers brushed over the key in the ignition, not yet starting the vehicle again but awaiting Raphael’s answer.

“I don’t think that any plan will achieve that if the It’ahr are there. The guy on the phone sounded like a regular”—human—”person but I doubt the others are far.”

“The It—what? Is that some kind of gang name?”

“...something like that,” Raphael sighed, putting away his phone and motioning for the other boy to get going already. “Just drive me close to that address and I’ll walk the rest. You don’t have to come with, it’s way too dangerous.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I won’t just turn tail and run when one of my only two friends needs help,” Simon replied, though he did seem pretty damn afraid of the whole situation but apparently not every human gave in to avoid the things that scared them.

Raphael only huffed and he certainly wouldn’t let this happen but he shut up for now so the other boy would finally start the car and get going again. He wouldn’t drag Simon any further into this whole mess and risk his life, especially not after finding out that this boy was his ‘soulmate’ or however else he was supposed to call it. Raphael wished there had been the time to explore all of this some more, find out more about the unfamiliar feelings blooming inside of him but he supposed it just wasn’t meant to be after all.

The ride to the address happened in silence with just the humming of the engine in the background and Simon parked the truck next to some bushes, the lights of a house were barely visible through the branches and leaves.

“Thank you for helping me,” Raphael said with a lowered, soft voice after a brief moment of silence and then flinched a little when the other boy lightly hit the back of his hand against Raphael’s upper arm.

“I’m not going to leave! I might be scared of whatever is going to happen but I won’t let you run into your demise alone,” Simon groused and his voice was unexpectedly determined, despite his face being mostly drained of colour. This misplaced bravery was as impressive as it was stupid, Raphael had to admit.

“You’re not going in there with me either, Simon! I won’t be responsible for your death as well,” he replied with hopefully enough finality to make the other actually listen. Raphael reached out and carefully pushed the door open, gritting his teeth when the metal creaked while swinging open. He slid out of his seat, small branches crunching under his feet when they hit the ground.

“You’re not, you know?” Simon’s soft voice reached his ears and Raphael turned around with a questioning expression. “You’re not responsible for anyone’s death. And there is no guarantee anyone else will die tonight.”

“Just...stay here.” With that, Raphael pushed the door close again and despite not actually feeling like it, he sent a small smile to the other boy and glanced at Magnus who was on the backseat, meowing in protest while pressing his small paws against the window. Raphael nudged the tip of his index finger against the glass where one of the paws rested before finally turning around and straightening his shoulders, mentally getting ready for whatever would await him in there.

Raphael gave his best to walk silently but every stepped sounded way too loud in his own ears while he closed in on the rickety old house sitting hidden in between all the trees and bushes. There were no lights on anywhere and Raphael felt his heart pound against his ribs. He had never really been face to face with one of the warriors and the only time he had consciously seen one had been earlier today, in the coffee shop.

He slowly walked up to the house, ducking a little to avoid being spotted right away, and pressed his back against the wall underneath the window to the right of the front porch. It was absolutely silent inside the house, still no light and no movements to be detected, no matter how hard he listened.

Raphael took a deep breath before slowly making his way around the house, not daring to try the front door though he figured that him using the backdoor was probably more expected anyway. When he reached said door, Raphael carefully twisted the knob and was unsettled when the door actually swung open without the expected creaking noise that old wooden doors usually made in such situation in every damn film ever.

The narrow hallway was pitch black and Raphael couldn’t make out a single damn thing. He carefully glanced around before stepping inside and then focused his concentration on his hands, willing those damn lights to show up—he had spent the past days training with Ragnor’s help and while the progress was still quite bumpy, now it only took a fraction of a minute until the light in his left palm actually flickered to life.

The bluish light easily lit up the hallway and helped Raphael find his way through the clutter of various boxes and other things lying around everywhere. He checked every room on the way but there wasn’t even one sign of someone actually living here. The house looked like it had been abandoned in a haste years ago which was probably the reason why the It’ahr had chosen this building in the first place.

Raphael tried to keep his panicked heartbeat in check and his breathing calm so that he was able to pay proper attention to his surroundings, not missing any sounds or other hints that he wasn’t alone. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary in the house and since there was no upstairs to the building, Raphael finally paused in front of a door that could only lead to the basement. The basement, _of course_.

The light in the palm of his hand flickered a little, probably in reaction to his emotions since he still had to figure out how to stop one thing from influencing the other, but then it stabilised again and Raphael carefully pushed the door open, glancing down the rickety wooden stairs that led into absolute darkness. He didn’t know why nobody had shown up yet, why no It’ahr warrior had popped up out of the darkness to end him, but the fact that it was completely silent only made the situation that much worse.

Raphael took one careful step down the stairs after the other, eyes flickering around in order to spot any dangers right away while the clutter in the basement was slowly bathed in the pale blue light emitted by the palm of his hand. When he finally reached the bottom of the steps and looked around, it only took a moment until he spotted a seemingly lifeless body at the end of a path through different shelves that were stuffed with various tools. His heartbeat picked up even more speed, especially when he recognised the body a few steps later.

“Ragnor!” The name left his lips in a shocked whisper before Raphael could stop the word from slipping out of his throat and he bit his bottom lip hard enough for it to hurt. He should still be careful, no matter what.

Raphael hurried to get to Ragnor, dropping to his knees next to the other and reaching out, fingertips brushing against his protector’s neck, feeling his slightly cool skin and, fortunately, also a slow but steady pulse.

“Ragnor, hey,” he muttered and patted Ragnor’s cheek, trying to wake him up somehow. The other’s hands were bound together, connected to a ring in the wall with a rusty old chain. Raphael pulled at the chain but, as expected, it didn’t budge and was fastened with a sturdy looking lock. Ragnor’s wrists were rubbed sore by the shackles he had obviously struggled against and Raphael felt a twinge of guilt at the sight. This wouldn’t have happened if he had stayed instead of foolishly following his stupid feelings.

“Come on, wake up,” Raphael pleaded and smacked his palm against Ragnor’s cheek with a little more determination and this time he finally got a reaction out of the man, though it was only a pained groan at first. A moment later, Ragnor’s eyelids finally fluttered and opened, revealing his disoriented eyes.

“Raphael?” Ragnor’s voice sounded a little weak but as soon as he recognised who was in front of him, he was immediately more conscious and straightened up, clearly alarmed. “What are you doing here? How did you get in here?”

“They called me with your phone and gave me the address. There was nobody around when I arrived, though,” Raphael explained and got up, glancing around in hopes of spotting the damn key that would free Ragnor from his shackles but he couldn’t see anything even remotely resembling a key.

“You do realise that this is a trap, right? How could you be so damn reckless and come here?!”

“Oh, excuse me for not just wanting to leave you for dead!” Raphael shot back with annoyance and clenched his teeth, glaring down at Ragnor who was still sitting on the floor and trying to collect himself. Raphael huffed out a sigh and offered his hand, pulling the other to his feet and propping him up against one of the shelves when Ragnor swayed a little, almost losing his balance.

“Better me than you,” Ragnor replied grumpily and under different circumstances, he would seem like a petulant child but Raphael knew how damn serious the other took his promise to protect him. Ragnor would give his life to save Raphael’s without the slightest hesitation and that fact was honestly terrifying—Ragnor was the only one he had left from his home, after all, and Raphael couldn’t bear the thought of losing him as well.

“Stop saying shit like that. We’re either both getting out of this or neither of us will!” Raphael knew he had some destiny to fulfil but he honestly couldn’t care less about this stuff right now. Ragnor had been by his side through all of this and Raphael wasn’t sure he would even be able to go on without the other by his side—Ragnor was always the voice of reason, the one who made sure they didn’t leave any traceable tracks. Without Ragnor, he would be completely lost and the It’ahr would surely find him in a matter of days as soon as he was on his own.

“If you die, the chances of the other survivors ever winning over the It’ahr will be even slimmer and we can’t risk that. This is so much bigger than me or you! This is about putting an end to their reign and about preventing that other planets will share the same fate as ours! It’s selfish to ignore all of that simply because you don’t want to lose me,” Ragnor replied angrily and his eyes had darkened, eyebrows furrowed.

“Easy for you to say,” Raphael muttered and he knew all of these things, had heard the lecture often enough over the past years, but it was still easier said than done. He was supposed to leave Ragnor behind and let him die because of some greater good without any guarantee that he would actually be able to find the others, that they would actually manage to win against the It’ahr warriors.

Uncomfortable silence washed over them while Raphael continued his search for the damn key but in the end, he settled with a damn axe, figuring they didn’t have the time to keep on searching and hopefully he would be able to destroy the damn chains with the help of the axe.

“Put your hands on the table,” Raphael ordered, pointing at said table and slightly raising the axe to signal what he planned on doing. Ragnor looked at him with a sceptical expression but they both knew there wasn’t exactly another option and Raphael simply hoped that his aim wouldn’t fail him now—accidentally chopping off any limbs would definitely not help their situation.

The first swing didn’t hit the chains properly but fortunately also missed Ragnor but the second swing was spot on, the chains bursting apart where the axe hit them. The chains clattered to the floor and the sound was followed by creaking above their head, obvious footsteps that caused the fine hairs on Raphael’s neck to stand on end.

“We need to get out of here,” Ragnor hissed and despite his weak state, he stepped in between Raphael and the stairs leading into the basement.

Raphael rolled his eyes at the gesture but tightened his grip on the axe he was still holding, slowly following Ragnor towards the stairs with a hammering heartbeat. The blink of an eye later, the basement door suddenly burst open and a bearded man with a gun showed up—despite the weapon, Raphael couldn’t help but feel relief at the realisation that it actually was just a human, not one of the It’ahr.

“You actually showed up,” the man said, his words a little slurred and Raphael wondered if the guy was seriously drunk or if he simply had some kind of speech impairment. “They will be very happy to know that I got both of you.”

Raphael wondered how this counted as ‘having them’ seeing as Ragnor wasn’t chained anymore but he figured pointing that out wouldn’t be very helpful.

“They? You’re working together with the It’ahr?! But you’re just a human, why would you—”

“Not that it’s any of your business but they promised me a rich payment for my efforts,” the guy answered with a partly toothless grin and Raphael figured he probably shouldn’t be surprised about the greed and stupidity of some people anymore. It was astounding how some humans would literally do anything if they were promised great riches, even when the people promising said payment were clearly the type to not deliver in the end. The only payment this man would receive would be death, that much was certain.

“They won’t pay you. They will kill you as soon as you're not of use to them anymore,” Ragnor pointed out calmly, still shielding Raphael from this guy that was slowly stalking down the stair with his weapon pointed at them.

“Of course you would say that but I’m not so stupid to fall for such bullshit. I won’t let you get away!” The guy was clearly convinced that he was on the right side of things but he would learn soon enough that he had chosen the wrongest side possible in this scenario. Maybe he wasn’t even quite aware that the people he had chosen as his allies weren’t even from this planet and that they certainly didn’t feel any remorse about killing everyone who wasn’t one of their own.

Raphael subtly nudged Ragnor’s back that hid him from their opponent's view, offering the axe in his hand to the other man and Ragnor did take it, somehow managing it without this guy noticing. Ragnor said something else to the man, just for distraction, and when the guy briefly didn’t pay attention he quickly drew the axe from behind his back and threw it at the guy, the blade only brushing his upper arm. It cut through the denim of the man’s shirt, blood soaking through the martial right away and the guy screamed out in pain, his gun going off out of reflex.

Raphael flinched at the loud bang of the gun that echoed through the whole basement but he didn’t have any time to figure out what direction the bullet had gone because Ragnor suddenly ran up the stairs, tackling their opponent and causing both of them to drop onto the stairs with pained groans.

“Ragnor, dammit!” Raphael jumped up the stairs as well, reaching for his protector’s shoulders to somehow pull him into a standing position again and then push him up the stairs while the other man was trying to grab their legs in an attempt to stop them but he was too distracted by his injured arm to be successful.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Raphael whisper-yelled at Ragnor while they were stumbling through the dark hallway and he was fully expecting the It’ahr to be the ones barrelling into the house when the door in front of them opened swiftly, slamming into the wall with a loud bang.

“Raphael?! Oh God, are you okay?! I saw this guy walking into the house and then I heard a shot and I didn’t know what to do and—”

“Simon! Simon, calm down, we’re okay,” Raphael replied, disbelieving that Simon was still around and had ignored his order to stay in the damn truck. Part of Raphael had known the other boy wouldn’t listen to him but he had still hoped there was at least a little bit common sense in the other.

“We have to get out of here, come on, help me with him,” he called out for Simon who stumbled up to them, slinging one of Ragnor’s arms over his shoulders while Raphael took the other one. Together, they supported Ragnor and led him out of the decrepit building while the man started calling after them, yelling about how he had called _them_ and that there was no escaping now.

Raphael saw the truck and started to believe that they would actually get away this easily but then there was a sizzling sound, like electricity, and something hit the ground next to them, dirt flying into the air in an explosion. He heard Simon curse next to him and felt the other boy’s steps falter but they kept going, trying to walk as fast as possible with Ragnor’s weight slowing them down.

There were other voices calling out to them now, clearly the It’ahr warriors that were after Raphael and he had to hold himself back from turning around to look at them. Raphael knew he wouldn't be able to face them, not now and not by himself. All that mattered right now was getting Ragnor away from here, getting him and Simon to safety before something even worse could happen.

When another blow hit the ground directly behind them, Raphael cursed and told the other boy to take Ragnor to the truck. He had to try to distract the It’ahr; otherwise, neither of them would get out of here in one piece.

“Get him to the car and start the engine, I’ll be with you right away!” Raphael called out and briefly watched how Simon stumbled upon having to support Ragnor all by himself but the boy was stubborn and went on, dragged the man further and further towards the waiting car.

Raphael swallowed thickly and turned around, the damn axe still in his hand and now he was glad he had picked the thing back up, though he hadn’t even known why when he had done so. His fingers tightened around the hilt of the axe, knuckles turning white, and his eyes narrowed as he watched the two It’ahr warrior approach him with wicked grins on their strange faces.

The weapons in their hands were clearly not man-made, not from this world, and they were the ones who had sent the ground flying around them in small explosions—shooting balls of energy, similar to the rays of light that Raphael could now form in the palms of his hands. Raphael wondered if his lights would be able to be used as a weapon as well, if only he trained enough, and right now he did hope so because he wanted to hurt these guys. He wanted to get rid of them for good!

“Are you finally giving up on running, little Cuajuhn? Did you finally accept that you can’t run from your fate?” One of the warriors asked with an icy voice, his face void of any other emotion than the joy of possibly killing another one of their targets. Raphael’s stomach churned at the thought that these creatures were responsible for his family’s death, that they were probably just as unfazed about killing everyone they had been able to find on his former home planet.

“No, I’m neither giving up nor am I accepting whatever nonsensical fate you think I have!” Raphael called back and was surprised that his voice sounded rather strong, not as shaky as he actually felt. “My fate will be your downfall! I won’t die tonight because I want to be the one to put an end to your terror!”

He had no idea where this unexpected burst of confidence came from but Raphael definitely didn’t feel like complaining about it. The creaking sound of the car door opening was like a beacon in this very moment, the sign that he could finally turn around and run for once more. He didn’t give up on running just yet but hopefully, the moment when he could stop doing so wasn’t too far away anymore.

Raphael heard the sizzling of the It’ahr’s weapons when he whirled around and ran towards the car, he felt the vibration of the balls of energy hitting the ground around him but somehow he managed to get away from there without more than a few mild scratches. Simon almost screamed his name, pleaded with him to hurry up, and as soon as Raphael was in the car the whole vehicle lurched forward in Simon’s haste to get away. The It’ahr kept on firing at them, managing to hit the rear window that shattered into hundredth of pieces but that was the only damage they made before the truck was out of reach, even for their weapons.

*******

“Stop the car!”

Simon hit the breaks and the truck skidded to a stop at the side of the road. Raphael was out of the vehicle before it had stopped properly, ripping the door to the backseat open after jumping out and not even paying any attention to the light rain that had started in the past five minutes.

Ragnor was slumped to the side in the backseat, with Magnus curled up next to his head, and it had only been now that Raphael had spotted the blood on his side and abdomen. He reached out for the man, carefully nudging him into consciousness before silently asking Ragnor to climb out of the car. The other did, clearly a little disoriented from pain and blood loss by now and Raphael cursed himself for not having noticed the injuries sooner.

It had been too damn dark in the basement for him to realise Ragnor had been badly hurt and there had been no time to pay attention to it during their escape from the It’ahr.

“What have they done to you? How bad is it?” Raphael carefully propped the other up against the car, pushing Ragnor’s dirty jacket aside to take a look at where a small stream of blood was constantly seeping out of what looked like a bullet wound.

“It hit you,” he murmured, only now realising that this was where the bullet earlier had gone when this stupid human had shot at them. Raphael felt a surge of panic and guilt ripple through him—panic because Ragnor had lost a lot of blood already and he didn’t know what to do because a hospital would be too dangerous in the current situation, and guilt because he hadn’t noticed Ragnor being shot.

“Oh shit!” Simon had climbed out of the truck as well and was now next to them, spotting the blood as well and his face immediately lost the tiny amount of colour it had gained through the relief of having gotten away from the enemies.

Raphael silently asked his protector to press his hands against the wounds before he turned around, wanting to go to the trunk and get the first aid kit but one of Ragnor’s hands weakly curled around his lower arm, stopping him before he was able to even take two steps.

“I’m not gonna make it,” Ragnor said with a weak voice, eyelids drooping and face pale from exhaustion.

“Don’t talk such nonsense, Ragnor! You’ll be fine. We’ll patch you up and you’ll be as good as new,” Raphael replied and ignored the way his voice shook with every word. He hated to hear Ragnor talk like this, giving up before even trying to save him.

“It’s no use. I lost too much blood already because that guy had stabbed me long before you arrived. Being shot only made it that much worse,” the other replied, coughing and causing blood to drip from his bottom lip.

Raphael’s heart fluttered in his chest, pounding against his ribs as if it wanted to escape its cage without any success.

“No. No, no, no. I won’t let that happen. Let me try to help you.”

“Raphael.” Ragnor’s voice was uncharacteristically soft, “don’t. I’m sorry it had to come to this and I’m sorry I can’t be with you through it all but you’ve grown so much in the past years. You’re stronger and smarter now, you’ll be able to train and find the other, you’ll be able to do this!”

Raphael shook his head, not wanting to hear this kind of goodbye speech from the person who had become something like a father to him, who had been by his side ever since he had lost all of his blood-related family. He couldn’t imagine going on without Ragnor.

“I can’t and I won’t. You won’t die tonight, Ragnor! I refuse to let this happen.”

“It’s not your decision to make. My time has come,” Ragnor gasped and his legs clearly had trouble keeping him upright, bucking underneath him and even Raphael’s attempt at catching him was only remotely successful since both of them sank to their knees. His fingers dug into Ragnor’s upper arms, sight getting blurry as he watched his guardian’s pale face, bloody lips and distant eyes. He was losing Ragnor. The other was slipping right through his fingers and there was nothing he could do about it.

“No. Please, no.” Raphael wasn’t even aware that he was talking, muttering nonsense under his breath and shaking like a leaf in the wind.

Ragnor smiled at him, mumbling an “I’m sorry” followed by a weak “You will do this, I believe in you” before his eyes drooped closed. Ragnor’s head slumped forward just as his body did and Raphael held on to him, feeling the other’s weight against his front until it suddenly started to feel lighter. A strange light started to shimmer around Ragnor, getting brighter before his physical body seemed to explode into a million small lights, like blue glowing fireflies, and they were carried up into the sky by the mild breeze, dancing in between the misty rain until they disappeared into the night.

Raphael still kneeled on the ground, fingers curled around a body that wasn’t even there anymore, blurry sight searching the night sky as if he could still find Ragnor there, as if there was a chance of the other coming back to him.

“Raphael,” Simon’s voice was careful, reminding him of the fact that he wasn’t completely alone right now, and it was followed by the most tentative of touches against his shoulder.

Raphael flinched a little and dropped his head, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to get his bearings back but his whole body seemed to thrum with the pain of losing yet another person dear to him. Losing the last person he had considered his family.

“Come on, let’s get back into the car, it’s raining,” Simon prompted him gently and crouched down as well, by the sound of it. His voice sounded distant and shaky, just like the fingers resting on Raphael’s shoulder, but for some reason, he was still here. After what had just happened, a body vanishing into thin air, Raphael would have expected the other boy to get out of here as fast as possible.

“He’s gone.” Why he said it, Raphael didn’t know. It was painfully obvious that Ragnor was gone and wouldn’t return again.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

Raphael tensed up but then he let himself be guided to his feet and back into the passenger seat of the car, his whole body suddenly feeling weak and numb. He knew he should probably cry, somehow get some of the pain and grief out of his system, but even though his view was completely blurry by now, no tears wanted to fall from his eyes. Raphael had gone through so much loss in his life already, maybe he wasn’t capable of such a physical reaction anymore. Or maybe it was simply the shock that was holding it all in for now.

The humming of the awakening engine sounded far away and Raphael barely noticed when they started moving again, not even bothering to ask where they were headed. None of it seemed to matter right now and Raphael wouldn’t even care if the It’ahr were to show up again and killed him as well. Right now, he would probably even welcome it.

 

*******

When Raphael blinked his eyes open, it was still dark outside and his neck hurt a little from where he was slumped in the passenger seat, head resting against the cool glass at an odd angle. He hadn’t even noticed how damn exhausted he had been, especially emotionally, and the soft hum of the car engine had managed to lull him into a restless sleep. His eyes adjusted to the lack of light in under a minute and, glancing around, he noticed the car had been parked on a hidden path in the woods—nothing but trees and bushes to either side of them.

He groaned when sitting up, rubbing a hand over his aching neck before brushing it over his face, stifling a yawn. His whole body seemed to ache dully with the memory of having lost Ragnor. A feeling of helplessness washed over Raphael since now, he had to figure out how to go on without his protector. From now on, he would have to train by himself, figure out how to keep himself hidden from the It’ahr and somehow find the others. It was a task that seemed much too big all of a sudden. Sure, it had felt like that before already but now that he was facing it on his own…

“How are you feeling?” Simon’s voice sounded groggy as if he had been asleep not too long ago as well, and when Raphael glanced at the other boy, he saw Simon’s hair stick up in a few places. His glasses were halfway down the bridge of his nose and crooked but the other boy didn’t seem too bothered by it right now, not reaching up to adjust the spectacles.

“What do you think?” He hadn’t meant for his reply to come out so harshly, even though it was admittedly a quite stupid thing to ask but Simon was surely aware of that already.

“Crappy?” Simon offered with a weak smile, clearly trying to lighten the mood somehow but fully aware that it wouldn’t be possible. The other boy seemed as lost and scared as Raphael felt and it only made him all the more guilty because he had dragged Simon into this mess.

Raphael huffed, an unsuccessful attempt at sounding amused but it was simply a weak noise because laughing was definitely the last thing he felt like right now. _Crappy_ was definitely putting it lightly.

“Sorry, I know it was a stupid question but nothing I say will make it better in any way, I’m aware. But I don’t just want to keep quiet because that’ll definitely make it worse. Only makes you start thinking.”

He couldn’t exactly disagree with the other boy there and Raphael was admittedly glad that he wasn’t completely alone right now. A slight movement in his lap, followed by soft meowing, made him aware that he had more company than just Simon—of course, Magnus was still here as well. The black cat blinked up at him with its large golden-yellow eyes, pupils big and round to catch every small speck of light in the darkness of the night.

“Hey there,” Raphael muttered, fingertips brushing over the animal’s back, feeling the soft fur under his touch. It was comforting, having at least this familiar sensation still left to ground him. Magnus might be nothing but a cat but he was still somewhat Raphael’s best friend and sometimes it almost felt like the small animal was watching out for him as well.

“He didn’t leave your side once,” Simon said in a whisper, the smallest hint of a smile on his face but it didn’t clear the sadness from his dark eyes and despite his own pain, Raphael suddenly felt like reaching out and comforting the other. This couldn’t have been easy for Simon either—surely, the other boy had never experienced anything like this so he was probably in shock and still afraid as well.

“Sorry for dragging you into this,” he muffled, averting his eyes and dropping his head so his chin was resting on his chest. Raphael’s thoughts were all over the place, jumping from guilt over Ragnor’s death and Simon’s involvement, to the memories of losing his family and back to the present.

“Nonsense. You have nothing to apologise for. I chose to stick around,” Simon replied and then his hand settled on top of Raphael’s left knee, just a tender contact. “We’re friends, you said it yourself, and this is what friends do. Real friends are there for each other even during the shitty times.”

“Shitty times usually don’t entail people wanting to kill you,” Raphael pointed out weakly while he watched Magnus press up against his stomach, purring softly as if to soothe him. He felt Simon’s fingers squeeze his knee, warmth slowly seeping through the material of his jeans, before it was gone again and reached for Raphael’s hand instead.

“Yeah, that might be true but I’m not scared off that easily. Sure, I don’t want to die or encounter these guys ever again because they scare the living shit out of me but...that’s no reason to leave you alone.”

Raphael definitely couldn’t follow Simon’s reasoning in this. The other boy was scared but still chose to stick around. Every time he thought he had understood the way humans worked, they had another surprise for him that threw him off again.

“I would really appreciate some more details about all of this, though, because nothing makes any sense right now. The way Ragnor—when he—he just disappeared or was it my imagination?”

Simon’s fingers curled around his, squeezing softly and then they slipped between Raphael’s fingers. It was unfamiliar, being close to someone in this way, but it also felt surprisingly right and good right now. It kept Raphael grounded like the feeling of Magnus in his lap did, made him aware of the fact that he wasn’t alone, even without Ragnor by his side.

“I will. I promise that I will. But not right now, okay?” Raphael figured that, at this point, he owed Simon this much and maybe, if the other boy knew the truth, he would realise that he should get as far away from Raphael as possible. It pained him to even imagine the other boy running from him, maybe being scared of him for not being human, for lying and deceiving him, but he also knew it would be for the best. Simon’s safety had the top priority, now even more than before.

“We should get some rest first but then, I want some answers. I hope we’re safe here for now and in the morning we can figure out what to do next.” Simon brushed his thumb over the back of Raphael’s hand and when he raised his head to look at the other boy, he was met by a soft smile that almost seemed to put his heart back together a little bit.

 _You’re incredible_ , he wanted to say but the words didn’t want to leave his lips. Instead, Raphael nodded in agreement and finally squeezed the other’s hand back, not wanting to let go of the soothing warmth just yet.

They spent the rest of the night like this, sitting in the car with their hands linked. It only took a little while until they were both asleep again, exhausted by the events of the evening, but the morning came with more rain and the shrill sound of a ringing phone.

Raphael woke up to Simon cursing and then answering his phone in a haste, probably hoping to silence the damn thing before it woke Raphael up as well.

“Maia, hey, what’s up?”

Raphael huffed out a breath and distantly remembered that it was the middle of the weak and today was a regular school day for everyone else. Maia probably wondered where they were.

“Oh my god. Shit. Are you serious?!”

Raphael’s eyes flew open at the panicked sound in the other’s voice and he sat up, ignoring the ache in his whole body from having slept in the car, sitting in a slumped position. His movement made Simon aware that he was up as well and he pressed his finger to the screen of his phone to put it on speaker.

‘—and either I’m crazy or their skin is actually bluish, with really odd tattoos almost all over them,’ Maia’s hushed, scared voice could be heard and Raphael cursed under his breath. He didn’t need to hear more to know that apparently, the It’ahr had decided to head to the school, looking for him. Part of him was inclined to feel offended that they thought he was _that_ stupid but maybe they had considered the fact that he had made friends there or simply would try to prevent more humans from dying. Which...was both true.

“We have to head to school!”

Simon’s head whipped around and he stared at Raphael with wide eyes, though he clearly didn’t want to protest because he knew Raphael was right. They couldn’t just leave, especially not when Maia was in danger.

‘Are you crazy?! They have weapons—or at least I think that’s what these weird things in their hands are—and what do you even want to do?! Nobody needs you to get yourselves killed because you thought you had to play heroes!’ Maia whisper-yelled at them since she was probably hiding somewhere and trying to not draw attention to herself.

Raphael was definitely glad that Maia was such a smart girl, not like the ones in movies that simply started screaming at the top of their lungs and got killed in the first ten minutes.He honestly didn’t want to think about anyone dying again anytime soon.

“Just stay hidden and don’t let them find you, okay?” Raphael told the girl and the way Maia breathed out made it very obvious that she had more words of protest at the tip of her tongue but she swallowed it and just made an affirmative noise. “We’ll get you out of there, I promise.”

Raphael felt terrible about promising something he couldn’t guarantee but Maia definitely didn’t need a speech that told her they would try but probably fail. Hope was the only thing they could offer the girl in this situation and Raphael was more than willing to give her just that.

They hung up and Simon started the car right away, muttering under his breath about how suicidal it was to run right into the next danger, especially after what had happened to them only a few hours ago but it was obvious that he wasn’t in favour of leaving Maia to die either. It was a shitty situation, once again, but Raphael was admittedly impressed by Simon’s bravery.

Simon parked the car a block away from the school, actually being smart about it in case one of the It’ahr was outside the school and ended up spotting them way before they could come up with something like a plan of how to go about this. Leaving Magnus in the car, the boys climbed out of the truck and shared anxious glances.

“Are you sure about this?” Raphael asked when they started moving around the corner so they were able to see the school now. The building looked eerily calm and not as if there was some kind of alien attack going on which was probably a good thing, considering that the It’ahr could easily destroy the whole area with their weapons. The fact that they didn’t just shoot everyone and everything in their vicinity gave them somewhat of a chance.

“No, but if you go in there, I’ll go in there as well,” Simon replied with determination, even though he did look understandably scared again.

Raphael nodded, not wanting to argue about this right now since, apparently, Simon considered himself part of this now—at least until he would learn about what was truly going on, then he would hopefully turn tail and get away as fast as possible. Raphael only had to make sure the other boy would get through this scenario alright and then tell him all about his story.

They both kept their eyes open while heading towards the school but neither was able to spot one of the It’ahr warriors and they actually managed to slip into the school through one of the side doors. Like the evening before, this seemed way too easy to accomplish and Raphael felt more anxious by the second. He whispered to Simon that he should message Maia to figure out where she was hiding out so they could hopefully get her out of there.

It didn’t take very long for her reply to arrive, telling them she was hiding on one of the balconies in the auditorium since she had been there for her photography club that was preparing for an exhibition that would take place here the next day.

Raphael honestly couldn’t remember which one would be the fastest route to the auditorium but Simon simply grabbed his hand and dragged him along, into another hallway away from the main one.

The whole way to the large doors leading into the auditorium, there was no other sign of the It’ahr other than the sound of one smaller explosion but it came from further away and Raphael hoped that meant none of their enemies as in the nearest vicinity. He bit his bottom lip when Simon carefully pushed against one of the doors that swung into the room. The other boy took a careful peek around the corner before moving inside, both of them half crouching and immediately moving behind a row of seats just to be on the safe side.

“There are five balconies,” Raphael muttered while taking a look around, letting go of Simon’s hand that was still holding on to his in order to be able to move around a little better. Maia hadn’t specified which of the balconies she was on, though it couldn’t be that difficult to figure it out or just find her up there. Raphael supposed there had to be a staircase leading up somewhere and the balconies were probably all lines up along one hallway.

If they were lucky and none of the It’ahr warriors was around here, it should be easy enough to go up there, find Maia and then figure out how to leave the damn school again without being spotted. Though he wasn’t very optimistic about that working out in their favour after how the last encounter had played out.

“There are stairs to both sides of the stage,” Simon explained in a whisper, pointing towards said stage as if the thing wasn’t obvious enough, being smack in the middle at the end of the room, framed by deep red curtains. “How about we both take one side, that way we will be able to find her faster?”

“You suggest to split up, really?” Raphael raised his eyebrows at the other boy, sceptical about this rather dumb suggestion.

“I know, I know. Dumbest move to make in critical scenarios but it doesn’t look like anyone is around and we do want to get out of here again as fast as possible, right?”

Raphael sighed because, yes, Simon had a point. That didn’t mean he had to like the prospect of splitting up, though. It was still stupid and he would kick the other’s ass if splitting up, even just for a short moment, would end up getting them in trouble!

“Alright. If we end up dead because of this—”

“It’s all on me, sure.” Simon had the audacity to roll his eyes at him but there was the smallest hint of a grin on his lips, despite the more-than-serious situation.

Raphael sighed, then motioned that he would take the left staircase before starting to move through the rows of seats to do just that. He felt uneasy about not having Simon right by his side anymore but Raphael tried to push that feeling away, instead focussing on moving as fast and quiet as possible towards the staircase. Simon was right, they should try to get out of here as fast as possible and Maia was surely thinking the same thing.

At least they would circle around the room and then meet back up in the middle so the time apart wasn’t too long, slimming the chances of getting into trouble while they were on their own.

The first balcony was empty and Raphael would have been surprised to be lucky right away. When he peeked around the corner of the second balcony, he spotted Maia curled up in a sitting position, back pressed against the fence of the balcony and phone clasped in her hands.

“Maia,” he whispered and the girl flinched but as soon as she recognised who had been calling her name, she relaxed right away and the sheer relief on her face was already reason enough for having come here. “Do you know if any of them are around?”

Maia shook her head and basically crawled over to Raphael, surprising him by curling her arms around his neck for a thankful and almost painfully tight hug.

“You’re insane for actually coming here,” she hissed into his ear but then she brushed a feathery kiss to his cheek and leant back again, looking at Raphael with wide eyes. “Is Simon with you as well?”

Raphael nodded and pointed down the other side of the hallway where the other boy should hopefully show up soon. “So, anyone around?”

“No. At least not that I’m aware. I was down there with two other girls from my club when we heard a few people screaming. The other two ran off but I figured it might be better to stay here instead of risk running into of these creepy guys. One of them looked in here before I got up the stairs but he didn’t even properly enter the room.”

“That means they will probably come back here to search the place and we should get our asses out of here quickly,” Raphael muttered and Maia immediately nodded, obviously in favour of this plan after what she had experienced.

“What is it with these guys, anyway? What do they want?? And you didn’t sound too surprised on the phone—do you know what this is about?” She asked in a lowered voice, looking almost suspiciously at Raphael who had to hold back sigh because it was enough already to have dragged Simon into this but he was pretty damn sure that Maia wouldn’t let off easily either. She was one of these people that, when they wanted an answer, they would make sure to get it.

“I’ll have some explaining to do, I know, but it has to wait until we’re out of this situation.” There was no use in denying his involvement in this and Raphael was tired of lying and pretending to be someone—something—that he was not.

Maia’s eyes widened and she turned around when there were the softest footfalls to be heard from the hallway and Raphael was on alert right away as well but fortunately it was Simon who then turned the corner. The other boy looked worried as well but then he spotted them and his lips curled into a relieved smile.

“There you are. I was worried something had happened,” Simon whispered when he reached them, receiving a short hug by Maia as well and his cheeks turned the slightest hint of pink—Raphael ignored the way his stomach twisted a little at that since this definitely wasn't the time for such stupid feelings to bubble up. Maia was a great girl, it was to be expected that Simon seemed to have at least a crush on her.

“Come on, let’s get moving,” Raphael nodded back the way he had come from because it was the shorter route to the staircase and then he already started moving towards it, always listening in case a door downstairs was opened. Of course, exactly that had to happen when they had all just left the damn staircase and were basically out in the open.

The two big doors at the far end of the auditorium were suddenly pushed open and two of the It’ahr warriors at once stepped inside. There was no time for them to hide before they were already spotted and Raphael barely managed to push the others aside before the first shot hit the space where they had been standing mere milliseconds before.

“Fuck! Get up on the stage!”

Raphael looked at Simon as if the other was losing his mind since getting up on stage sounded like plastering a damn target right onto their heads but he figured the other boy had to have some kind of plan and there was no time to question it so he simply moved. Despite being behind the other two, Raphael was the first one up the side of the stage and he reached out, pulling Maia up as well while Simon somehow managed to push himself up as well, almost being hit by the next ball of energy shot in their direction.

“Stop right where you are and we might consider sparing your two little humans!” One of the warriors called out and Raphael tried to ignore the confused looks shot in his direction at this odd wording. There was no damn time for semantics right now!

“Move!” He just about yelled at his friends and that was enough to get them going again. Maia took the lead now, stumbling to her feet and rounding the corner with the curtain which led to some smaller stairs where they could leave the stage and enter some backstage area, hidden from the main room of the auditorium.

“Please tell me there’s another exit around here,” Raphael panted while running after Maia, Simon close on his heels. He didn’t get a vocal answer to his question but soon after discovered that, yes, there was! Maia pushed against the apparently heavy door, not quite managing to open the damn thing but Raphael didn’t even take the time to stop, simply barreling into the door and pushing it open with the sheer momentum he had going. It was uncomfortable and would certainly bruise his shoulder but at least it got the job done.

The three of them skidded into a small hallway, the door slamming shut behind them, and for a moment there was nothing but their combined frantic breathing until there was an explosion right next to the door, causing the walls to crumble a little and the ground underneath their feet to shake.

“These guys don’t like using doors normally, do they?!” Simon yelped and almost swallowed the last word when Raphael pushed him forwards to get him back to running. There was definitely no time for a break just yet since the It’ahr were right behind them and obviously about to just break through the damn wall any second now.

Simon almost slipped when they rounded a corner but Raphael just so managed to grab the back of his shirt, nearly tripping both of them up and then they almost knocked right into Maia who had suddenly stopped dead in the next hallway.

“Uh, guys? We have a problem,” she panted, pointing down said hallway and Raphael cursed when he spotted another It’ahr warrior at the end of it, wicked grin and deadly weapon at the ready.

“We should definitely take another way,” Raphael agreed and took a slow step back but Simon’s hand reaching for his lower arm stopped him.

“Looks like there is no other way,” he pointed out and Raphael saw that the other two It’ahr were walking up to them from the other side of the hallway, from where they had come from. Which meant there was no way to go and they were effectively trapped if they didn’t feel like attempting to jump through one of the windows at the side of the hallway but Raphael was quite sure that wouldn’t work out in their favour.

“Okay, alright,” Raphael relented and raised his arms in the air in surrender since there was really nothing else he could do. “You got me, congratulations. Now, let these two go, they have nothing to do with any of this.”

He was aware the chances of the It’ahr agreeing to this were kind of nonexistent but he had to at least try. It was him they wanted but that had never stopped them from killing whoever else they encountered. There had always been multiple casualties whenever they had hunted down one of the others.

The warriors simply laughed at his words, raising their weapons, but before they were able to fire there was the sound of an engine roaring towards them, followed by the window a few metres away shattering and then there was suddenly a damn motorbike sliding in between them and the two It’ahr that had followed them from the auditorium.

“What the—?!” Simon muttered in disbelieve, his fingers unconsciously digging into Raphaels lower arm, even tugging him a tiny bit closer.

The completely leather-clad person straightened up on their bike, one foot on the ground, and actually pulled two weapons, firing at the surprised It’ahr and forcing them to take shelter in a nearby room.

“Get the hell out of here!” The person yelled at them over their shoulder, voice muffled by the helmet that made it impossible to even tell if the person was male or female. Raphael decided that their apparent saviour’s gender was certainly the least of their worries right now and he dragged Simon towards the broken window that Maia was already running towards.

The other It’ahr warrior started firing now but the person tilted their upper body, pointing each weapon in one direction and firing both simultaneously, allowing Raphael and the other two to get away without being shot at. They stumbled over the glass shards and out of the window onto the schoolyard, not looking back to where the shooting continued and simply running like their lives depended on it—which, they actually did.

“Whoever that was, they are officially the most badass person I have ever seen!” Simon decided, even though he barely had enough breath left in his lungs to get the words out. He slumped into the driver’s seat of the truck, fumbling with the keys before starting the car up, barely waiting for Maia and Raphael to get settled properly before he tore out of the parking spot.

Raphael felt bad for having left this person behind but he figured they could probably stand their own against the It’ahr, considering they had smashed in there without abandon so save their asses. He really hoped they would encounter this person again because the least they deserved was a sincere thank you.

*******

“Aliens??”

Raphael buried his face in his hands with a long-suffering sigh and he supposed he should be glad about Simon not calling him insane or running for the hills but this had been the other’s reactions for the past twenty minutes already and it was getting kind of tiresome.

“Yes, _aliens_ ,” he grumbled and glanced at Maia who hadn’t said a single word for a worryingly long time now, simply staring ahead while probably trying to figure out how to get away from the two nutjobs she had gotten herself involved with.

“You look human, though,” Simon pointed out and it was almost scary how easily he seemed to have just accepted Raphael’s story. Sure, he had told the truth but Raphael would have expected some more disbelieve.

“Yeah, well, apparently. I can’t control the way I look, though. It just happened when we came to earth—apparently the bodies of my kind automatically take on the appearance of whatever is the ‘apex species’ or whatever. I honestly didn’t listen too closely when Ragnor explained it to me,” he admitted, thoroughly regretting that fact now because it was probably an important thing to know about yourself. “Ragnor had to make himself look human, though. He’s technically the same kind as me but…”

“But different?” Simon offered unhelpfully but Raphae still nodded because he honestly couldn’t think of a better wording right now and he figured the other two kind of got what he meant.

“You two do realise how absolutely crazy all of this sounds, right? I feel insane for even considering that this might actually be true,” Maia finally commented from the backseat, slumping back into it while absently caressing Magnus’ head who had been watching all of them attentively.

“My father disappeared during his search for extraterrestrial life so I definitely choose to believe in all of this since it means my dad wasn’t crazy like everyone else thought,” Simon replied, his eyes fixed on Raphael as if he was waiting to spot a sign of him not being human. The intensity of his stare made Raphael feel the slightest bit uncomfortable and he averted his own gaze, looking out of the window where he ended up spotting a motorbike headed their direction.

“Hey, look! It’s the person who showed up at school,” he pointed out and pushed open the door to step out of the truck, figuring that this person couldn’t be dangerous to them since they did save them before.

“How did you find us?” Maia called out when the motorbike stopped a few metres away from them and the person climbed off it, brushing down the front of their leather jacket as if to dust it off.

“I’m quite the amazing tracker,” the person replied, words muffled through the helmet they were still wearing but now they reached up, opening the clasp on their chin before pulling the helmet off their head. Long dark hair fell down on leather-clad shoulders, framing the delicate looking face of a surprisingly petite woman whose red lips curled into a smirk at all of their expression. “Not what you expected, huh?”

“Better than what I expected,” Maia commented and Raphael looked over at her with raised eyebrows, wondering where that comment came from but she simply shrugged at him with an innocent expression. “Thank you so much for saving us back there. Pretty sure we’d be dead by now if it wasn’t for your badassery.”

“Can’t disagree with you on that,” the unknown girl replied easily, bushing a strand of hair behind her ear and setting the helmet down on the seat of her bike. “So, who’s the one they were after?”

Raphael slowly raised his hand and then pointed at himself. “That would be me. Also, do you have a name? A name would be nice before all the explaining that’s going to follow.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t need an explanation for why the It’ahr are on your ass since I already know the answer to that. Also, my name is Lily,” she finally introduced herself, smiling at Raphael’s surprised expression. “Don’t look at me like that—I’m the same as you, dumbass.”

“You’re...you’re from Pramenus?” Ever since fleeing from his actual home, Raphael had never met any of the others so he was a little taken aback by suddenly having one of the few other survivors right in front of him all of a sudden.

“Yeah, and it looks like I was a lot more efficient at my training, judging by how poorly you did back there. You really have to step up your game if we’re ever supposed to win against these assholes,” Lily replied with a grimace, clearly not impressed by Raphael at all. Not that there was anything about him to be impressed by anyway, he supposed.

“My abilities only showed up like a little over a week ago so, yeah, I’m still pretty crap at it,” Raphael replied a little sullenly, crossing his arms in front of his chest while he felt Simon staring at him once again, silently mouthing an “abilities?” in his direction. He might not have mentioned that part yet…

“I’m not only talking about those, you know,” Lily pointed out but she didn’t seem in the mood to bully him further about how incapable he had been of getting them out of that shitty situation. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I guess the plan would be getting these two back home safely and then leaving the damn town because two encounters with the It’ahr are definitely enough in such a short timespan.”

Simon immediately made a noise of protest at the mention of getting him home and Raphael really started to wonder if this boy had some kind of death wish, seeing as he seemed to prefer being in danger and scared out of his wits over being home and living a normal life.

“So you want to risk heading back into town? Pretty sure it’d be safer for them to just head back home without the person with the target on their back by their side.”

“The It’ahr saw them with me! Do you really think it would make a difference? If I get them back and then somehow draw the It’ahr’s attention to me when I leave so hopefully they won’t care about sticking around.” Raphael was aware that this wasn’t the best of plans but it was better than not having any kind of plan at all.

“You’re clearly crazy,” Lily decided with a sigh before picking her helmet back up but instead of putting it on and driving off to leave them to their own devices, she suddenly threw the helmet to Maia who just so managed to catch it. “I’ll get her home in one piece and you take care of him, that way it’s at least a tiny bit less suicidal and we’ll be out of here faster.”

“ _We_ will be out of here?” Raphael echoed with confusion in his voice, though he did appreciate that Lily wanted to help out some more instead of leaving right away.

“I didn’t spend forever looking for another one of us to then just head off again on my own. We will have to team up against the It’ahr sooner or later and I figure sooner is better than later.”

Lily certainly had a point and Raphael didn’t mind the thought of having someone by his side again who knew by experience what was going on—someone who would be able to hopefully help him train for all of this, figure out the use of his abilities other than having a built-in flashlight.

“Alright. Just make sure Maia is safe,” he gave in, looking at said girl with a small smile. “I’m sorry you had to experience all of this but it will hopefully be over before today ends.”

Maia hesitated for a moment before walking over to hug him, whispering a “Take care” into his ear before putting on Lily’s helmet and joining the other girl at her bike. Lily simply nodded at both boys before climbing on her bike, waiting for Maia to take a seat behind her.

Lily started the engine, wordlessly saluting the two boys and as soon as Maia’s arms were securely wrapped around her, and then she set off back towards the town.

“I’m not going back, you know,” Simon said while they were watching the girls drive off, arms crossed in front of his chest when he tilted his head to look at Raphael.

“Are you serious? This is your home.”

“Not really, no. It was my home until my dad disappeared and my family fell apart. It’s been even less of a home after mom and Rebecca moved away.” Simon shrugged and pushed a stone around with the tip of his foot, looking awakened and a little forlorn. “I chose to stay here, with my ass of an uncle, hoping I could figure out what happened to dad.”

“Ten why not move in with your mother and sister? They’re your family and you could have a new start away from”—Raphael gestured towards the expanse of the city in front of them—”all of this.”

“I love Mum and Becca, and I do miss them, but I still want to find out what happened to my father and since he was basically after the likes of you I figured...sticking around might lead me closer to an answer than spending all my time in this boring town where I get bullied at school all the damn time.”

It was difficult to argue with that but Raphael honestly still didn't get why Simon would want this. He had seen what the It’ahr were capable of, that should be enough to scare anyone off. Simon continued to be either very brave or incredibly stupid—Raphael still hasn't decided which of the two it was.

“Just because your father was looking for aliens doesn’t mean he came across one of my kind,” Raphael said carefully and Simon looked at him as if _he_ was being the idiot in this situation.

“I know that. I’m aware that I’m probably never going to find out and that the chances of him still being alive are, like, zero. But if I can’t help him, at least this way I can help you.”

Raphael opened his mouth for a reply but he didn’t even know what to say to this. He simply didn’t understand why Simon, who knew him for less than a month, was so incredibly loyal to him already, even after finding out the truth about where Raphael came from and what he was.

“I really don’t get you,” Raphael admitted his thoughts out loud, leaning against the side of the truck next to the other boy since Simon didn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon so they could just stick around until Lily came back.

“I get that a lot,” Simon chuckled and shuffled a tiny bit closer until their shoulders brushed together. “What is there to get or not to get, though?”

“Why you’re doing this.” Raphael made an all-encompassing gesture to somewhat symbolize _this_ as if it was a physical object. “Why are you so keen on helping me? You barely know me and especially now that you know what I am...I don’t get it.”

Simon looked at him for a moment as if he was waiting for Raphael to admit to his words being a joke but when that didn’t happen, he was the one to laugh and shake his head, softly bumping his shoulder against Raphael’s.

“First, you’re not a _what_ but a _who_. Just because you’re from a different planet doesn’t mean you’re not a person. You’re a living being with thoughts and feelings. And I may not know you that well but I already do know that your heart is in the right place, that you’re one of the good guys and that you went through a lot of shit in your life already. I know a little something about shitty lives, though mine can’t compare to yours in the slightest, but having someone by your side to help and offer moral support can make all the difference. It made a big difference for me when you defended me against Jace and his jerks.”

Raphael actually felt his cheeks warm up at Simon’s words and the other boy continued to surprise and impress him. It was honestly nice to know that the other boy cared so much and that he considered Raphael an important enough friend to put up with all of this.

“I guess I don’t have to continue to tell you how incredibly stupid and dangerous this decision is so...if you are absolutely certain you want to come with, I won’t stop you,” Raphael finally decided and he would definitely like having Simon around for longer instead of having to say goodbye now. Sure, Lily would be with him from now on but it was still different and he definitely didn’t know that girl at all so it would be nice to have someone more familiar by his side as well.

“Yeah, it’s really unnecessary to keep telling me that because it won’t scare me off as you may have noticed,” Simon grinned and nudged his shoulder again before rounding the car to climb inside since the wind was picking up and it was actually a little bit chilly.

Raphael sat down in the car as well, Magnus climbing into his lap right away and meowing at him. “When we left the city, we definitely have to get some supplies. Food and clothes.”

Simon nodded and actually grabbed his phone to start a list of things they would need to get. Fortunately, Raphael had his ATM card on him and Ragnor had somehow made sure they had quite the good amount of money at their disposal so at least they wouldn’t have to worry about that anytime soon.

The thought of Ragnor made his chest hurt and Raphael took a deep breath, pushing those feelings away because he could always grieve when they were safe, far away from the It’ahr. For now, he had to keep his head in the game and stay focused on the task at hand.

*******

When Lily returned and found out that Simon had decided to accompany them, she wasn’t exactly too happy about it, stressing how incredibly dumb it was and that Simon would definitely get himself killed—or get all of them killed by being a weak, useless human. Raphael only rolled his eyes at her and replied that Lily could also just leave if she didn’t like the company and that she was the one joining them so it wasn’t exactly her place to complain. She wasn’t very amused about the backtalk but relented and called them both morons under her breath.

Since they had the truck of Simon’s uncle, it was easy to strap Lily’s bike onto the truck bed since the weather was still uncomfortable and there was no reason to drive with two vehicles when they could all be in the car together. Magnus seemed rather sceptical of their newest addition to the small team and Lily couldn’t believe they even had a damn cat around which caused said cat to hiss at her in indignation.

While they were on the road, heading further and further away from the city, it didn’t take very long for Raphael to nod off with his head resting against the window. He was incredibly exhausted after everything that had happened since the last day and his mind still couldn’t grasp the fact that Ragnor was actually gone now. The person who had been with him ever since his family had been killed, since losing his whole home planet, was now gone as well and Raphael was kind of afraid of the moment when the realisation would set in properly.

For now, though, he was too tired for any of that and simply trusted Simon and Lily to keep their eyes peeled for possible dangers. Fortunately, the It’ahr didn’t know where they were headed but would hopefully still leave the rest of the citizens alone. At least Lily had exchanged numbers with Maia as well, messaging her from the road to ask if things were alright but not offering information about where exactly they were headed—just to be on the safe side.

“How many of you guys are there?” Was what Raphael woke up to about an hour later, the humming of the truck’s engine still in the background and Magnus curled up in his lap, purring softly while taking a nap as well.

“We’re said to be seven but three are gone already,” Lily answered and it sounded like she was slowly warming up to Simon a little.

“How do you know? I thought Raphael is the first one you found?”

“I could feel it when they were killed. We’re connected but apparently, that connection is only useful to tell us when someone died. It doesn’t help finding one another, at least not that I know,” she continued to explain with unexpected patience.

Raphael opened his eyes with a soft yawn and the others had noticed him waking up again since Simon glanced in his direction, a small smile in place in his lips before he had to focus back on the road.

“I already miss sleeping in a proper bed,” he muttered, massaging the nape of his neck absently because once again it hurt from the awkward position he had fallen asleep in. Simon chuckled at his comment while Lily suggested they could find a motel for the night since they still had several hours of driving ahead of them, seeing as it was only early afternoon at the moment.

“That does sound like a good idea and we should take a proper break anyway since we do have to figure out where we’re even headed,” Simon replied and he definitely had a point there. It wasn’t like they had decided on where to go yet and the first instance had only been to get away and put distance between them and the It’ahr for now.

“We should find some secluded place where we could stay for a little while to train and get ready in case we encounter the It’ahr again,” Lily agreed, pointedly looking at Raphael while doing so as if he didn’t already know that it was him that needed training. Since he was definitely in favour of that plan, Raphael simply nodded his agreement and rubbed a hand over his face, trying to wake up properly.

“And we should get rid of that furball soon as well,” she added and nodded towards the dozing cat in Raphael’s lap. This definitely woke him up properly and Raphael made a noise of protest while shaking his head.

“No, that is not going to happen! He stays and there won’t be any discussion about that!”

“Why would you want a damn cat with you on this? Don’t you think it’d be the safer choice to find some nice, _normal_ people to take him in?”

“Magnus has been with us—me for almost five years now. He’s been moving around with us the whole time and had so many chances to just run off but he always stuck around anyway. He might just be a cat but he’s still my friend and I won’t get rid of him simply because you feel it’s inconveniencing you.”

Raphael didn’t care that Lily looked at him as if he was crazy now but he definitely refused to give Magnus away. If the cat wanted to get away, he wouldn't stop it because Raphael knew it would be safer for the feline to be away from him but as long as Magnus decided he hadn’t had enough of his strange human, the cat would stay by his side.

“Let’s hope the others are not as moronic as you are because otherwise we can just head back and let them kill us right away,” Lily groaned and slumped back into the backseat, pushing her fingers through her long hair. “If this is what the legacy of our race looks like, no wonder we’ve been eradicated.”

Raphael grit his teeth but refused to let himself be provoked by Lily’s comments, simply staring out of the window and hoping this conversation was over now because he was not in the mood to talk about what had happened to the rest of their kind or how incredibly useless he indeed felt about the weight resting on their shoulders simply because they were the sole survivors and somehow meant to get revenge or whatever for what had happened.

The rest of the drive that day was mostly spent in silence on Lily’s and Raphael’s part but Simon was unable to keep quiet for too long and started rambling away about everything and nothing soon enough. He definitely managed to fill the otherwise awkward silence with his blabbering and also didn’t seem to mind the fact that his conversation was mostly one-sided.

Raphael caught himself glancing at and watching the other boy every now and again, also when they had a stop for food and gas since Simon decided to bounce around with restless energy, saying it was to loosen his limbs from all the driving but it was obvious that most of his restlessness was the result of anxiety. Not that Raphael couldn’t strongly relate to that.

When the sun set hours later, they finally approached a small motel a few miles away from the next town, getting two rooms since Lily refused to share with them and after getting dinner they retreated into their rooms, figuring that they could take care of the planning in the morning when they had some rest and their minds were at full capacity again.

“So, Lily is a ball of sunshine,” Simon mentioned, lounging on his bed while Raphael was in the bathroom brushing his teeth with the door partly open so he could hear the other boy’s comment very well. He only made a non-committal sound since he didn’t want to risk spitting the toothpaste everywhere and there wasn’t exactly much to add to that statement anyway. Lily certainly wasn’t the most cheerful or nicest person Raphael had ever encountered but she also wasn’t the worst by far so he figured it wouldn’t be too hard to deal with.

“I really hope she will lighten up a little after some time. Like, I get that it’s difficult to be a happy person considering the situation both of you are in but it’s also not a free pass to be a douchebag to everyone else. I might just be some weak, useless human but the fact that I at least want to try and help has to count for something, right?”

Raphael spat the toothpaste into the sink, rinsing off the brush and his mouth before leaving the small bathroom, leaning against the doorframe. “You shouldn’t let it get to you this much. I’m sure she has lost a bunch of people just like I did and even if she doesn’t know you, I’m sure she doesn’t want you to get hurt either.”

“Or maybe she’s pissed because those assholes haven’t gotten me yet,” Simon replied dramatically and Raphael rolled his eyes at the other boy, easily sidestepping the pillow that was thrown in his direction in return.

“Don’t be such a drama queen. I’m sure we’ll get along just fine after getting to know her better,” he replied and picked up the pillow, throwing it back at Simon and hitting him straight in the face.

“You’re the worst,” Simon groaned, dramatically flopping back onto his bed and throwing one arm over his face, causing Raphael to chuckle and shake his head before turning off the light from the bathroom, pulling the door shut.

“And yet you decided to follow me around like a lost puppy. Guess I can’t be that terrible.” He walked over to Simon’s bed, playfully slapping his palm against the other’s lower leg and grinning at the other boy when Simon drew his arm back to attempt to glare at him.

“Nah, you’re definitely terrible and I have no idea why I like you,” Simon shot back and then the mood suddenly shifted to something mildly awkward when the other’s cheeks tinged a soft pink when he realised he had just admitted to liking Raphael.

It was ridiculous to feel nervous about such a simple statement but the sight of a blushing Simon managed to make Raphael’s heart skip a small beat and he was briefly concerned that his own face gained some more colour as well.

“I don't know that either.”

He hadn't meant to say this out loud but the words left Raphael's mouth before he was even aware of them sitting at the tip of his tongue. He grimaced a little at this insecure sounding statement and was about to brush it off when Simon sat up again, his warm fingers suddenly curling around Raphael’s wrist to tug him down on the bed as well. They were sitting next to each other now, Simon sitting cross-legged and his knee was softly resting on top of Raphael’s thigh.

“I do have an idea, though,” the other boy admitted and his fingers tapped lightly against Raphael’s wrist before moving further down to hold his hand properly, their fingers slotting together perfectly. “You are kind of amazing.”

Raphael couldn't help but snort in awkward amusement at that, though he could hear the sincerity in Simon’s voice and it made him feel even more nervous since this was all so unfamiliar to him. He had never experienced such a moment before, where his heart fluttered in his chest like a caged bird because he was innocently close to another person.

“Says the one who decided to tag along despite the whole life or death situation that’s going around me,” Raphael pointed out and, in his eyes, the other boy was far more amazing since he actually chose to be in this while Raphael would give anything to not be in this situation anymore.

“That only means you’re amazing and that I apparently inherited my dad’s crazy genes,” Simon joked but the way he looked at Raphael made it impossible to really grasp the meaning of his words.

Raphael swallowed nervously and he felt like he was drowning in the other’s deep brown eyes while all the anxiousness and worries seemed to bleed out of his body, an odd sense of happiness washing over him thanks to simply being able to share this weirdly intimate moment with Simon.

The sound of Raphael’s phone announcing a new text message ended the moment a fluttering heartbeat later, actually causing Simon to almost jump back from where he had been about to lean even closer. Now they both obviously blushed and Raphael cleared his throat awkwardly, carefully pulling his band back from Simon’s grasp, immediately missing the warmth of the touch, to get up and look at his phone.

The message was from Maia, asking if they were safe and got a comfortable place to spend the night. Despite her having disturbed their little moment, Raphael still couldn't help but smile at the fact that Maia was clearly worried about them. He quickly typed out an answer before they decided to go to sleep and Raphael wondered if it took Simon just as long to fall asleep.

*******

After a few days on the road, they went with Lily’s plan to find a secluded place to stay for a while. Said place ended up being an abandoned but still kind of well-preserved little building up in the hills, with lots of forest and field around that they could use for training. The first night in the place was pretty eerie since there were many unfamiliar sounds all around but the small group settled in rather quickly, stocked up on food and with their makeshift beds set up.

Lily barged into the boy’s shared room the second morning, even before the sun came up, to basically drag Raphael out of bed and out of the house for his first training session. After interrogating him about his abilities and what he was capable of doing—not much more than the damn lights and as of yet uncontrolled bursts of strength that reacted more to his emotions than to his will—she started to teach him techniques for defence and offence in general.

It was only on the third day there, that Lily decided they should start working on Raphael’s abilities and figure out how to properly use this light he could generate. It was early morning again when they started the training for the day, the sun slowly crawling over the horizon in the distance while Raphael sat cross-legged in the damp grass, across from Lily.

“By the way, what can you do? I already figured the whole superhuman strength seems to be a common thing but it didn’t sound like you know anything about generating light so...I guess you can do other things?”

“It’s good to know you paid attention,” Lily replied but the hint of a grin on her lips was teasing so Raphael wasn’t too bothered by the words. “You’re right, I don’t have lights shooting out of my hands but I’d say my abilities are pretty damn impressive.”

Before Raphael had the chance to ask what exactly she could do, Lily raised one hand in front of her face and Raphael’s eyes widened when he saw flames basically bursting out of her skin, enveloping her fingers and then the whole hand in the blink of an eye.

He couldn’t help but gasp in shock at first since the initial instinct was wanting to put out the fire so Lily didn’t get hurt but she clearly wasn’t in pain from the fire—her face was concentrated but relaxed, eyes even sparkling with the hint of amusement while watching Raphael’s reaction.

“That is so much cooler than my stupid lights. And it’s definitely a useful weapon,” Raphael said and he was almost tempted to reach out and touch the fire but he was pretty damn sure he wouldn’t be immune to it. His words actually caused Lily to chuckle and then she curled her fingers towards her palm, the flames vanishing with the movement in a small puff of smoke.

“I’m sure your abilities can be a lot more useful than just to blind enemies. Don’t forget, lasers are made of light as well,” she pointed out and Raphael had to admit, that this viewpoint made it sound a lot cooler. He really hoped his lights could actually be turned into a weapon, otherwise, they seemed kind of useless in a fight against the It’ahr.

“How about you show me this light of yours and we try to figure out what to do with it?” Lily suggested and Raphael nodded, hoping that he would manage to turn on the damn thing now since he still had trouble properly controlling it. He had to concentrate way too much still to use the light which would definitely be a problem in a fight as well, even if it could be used as a weapon somehow.

Before Raphael could even start to focus on his abilities, the door to the house opened and a sleepy looking Simon showed up, a steaming cup of coffee in hand and curly hair sticking up in every possible direction. Raphael’s lips curled into a smile at this sight, heart picking up speed without his permission—this reaction to the other boy seemed to become quite common these days, he noticed, but the feeling was way too comfortable for him to actually worry about or be bothered by it.

“This is going to be a common thing now, huh? You guys being up with the sun and start your Justice League training,” Simon said after a mumbled “Good morning” and a tentative sip of his still hot coffee.

“Well, we do have to get this guy in a more useful shape and that won’t happen by sleeping in every day,” Lily replied with an air of annoyance and a dismissive gesture. She still didn’t seem too fond of Simon, even though the two had moments where they got along and actually talked as if there was potential for a friendship.

“I think Raphael is in a very nice shape already,” Simon blurted out and then his eyes widened, cheeks flushing a dark pink and he coughed before taking a sip of his coffee as if he could hide what he had said this way.

Raphael caught Lily’s muttered “Oh boy…” but she didn’t comment on it out loud, only suggested they’d start with the training already instead of wasting more time. He nodded, mostly so the awkward moment would be over and Simon wouldn’t feel embarrassed anymore, and the tried to focus back on what he was supposed to do, placing his palms up on top of his knees.

About a minute passed but then Raphael finally managed to tap into these powers, his palms glowing a pale blue and flickering a little at first but then the lights became brighter until they were constant and pretty bright streams of light shooting out of his palms and getting lost in the early morning sun.

“Woah! You really do have superpowers,” Simon suddenly called out and, ignoring the fact that he was still in his pyjamas and barefoot, he walked closer with his eyes glued to the lights from Raphael’s palms, disbelieve and something like awe in his expression. “Does it hurt?”

Simon reached out but stopped his fingers short of touching Raphael’s hand but he was clearly not sure if the light might hurt him if he did touch it. It was definitely the sane decision to be careful instead of just touching things he didn’t know anything about, even though Raphael didn’t like the thought of the other boy thinking that touching him could ever, in any way, cause him pain.

“No, it doesn’t hurt me and it won’t hurt you. It’s nothing but light,” he answered and didn’t pay attention to Lily rolling her eyes at their behaviour, annoyed that their training continued to be interrupted.

Simon nodded and kept on staring at the lights before finally daring to close the last bit of distance, fingertips gingerly touching the ball of Raphael’s thumb to brush further towards his palm from there. They had held hands before, more than once, but this contact still felt oddly more intimate than hand-holding. Maybe because Simon came in contact with his inhuman side for the very first time.

“Alright, can we start properly now? We don’t have all the time in the world and we can’t have any distractions,” Lily finally gave up on keeping her annoyance at bay, glaring at Simon to make him understand that he was the unwanted distraction.

“Charming as always,” the other boy commented, not bothered by her behaviour in the least, before straightening up and tipping his mug towards Raphael like a silent toast. “I’ll prepare breakfast, you guys have fun.”

With that, Simon strolled back towards the small house but not without another look over his shoulder to comment on how cool he thought Raphael’s abilities were, even if they were ‘just lights’ for now.

Raphael wiped the surely dumb smile off his face when he noticed Lily’s glare directed at him and the lights flickered with the feeling of embarrassment washing over him. He cleared his throat and focused back on what he was supposed to be doing, the pale blue lights growing steady and strong again while Lily started explaining how they would train Raphael’s abilities and figure out what they were actually capable of.

*******

“Uhm,” was Simon's very eloquent comment and Raphael glanced at the other boy, gently grabbing his elbow to prevent him from walking right into one of the shelves of the tiny groceries store they were currently in. They had to stock up on food an the boys had decided to take care of that while Lily checked the news online for anything that mind point them in the direction of anyone else from their planet.

“Why are you almost running into shelves, exactly?” Raphael wondered out loud, tugging the other boy along the aisle but Simon struggled against his grasp and stepped out of the aisle again, pointing somewhere that Raphael couldn’t see at the moment.

“Look! I’m pretty sure that’s Maia,” he finally announced and Raphael raised his eyebrows because that made no sense whatsoever. There was absolutely no reason for Maia to be here and it would be the weirdest coincidence ever if she actually was.

“I highly doubt it’s her, Simon, there is no way—”

It was Maia. Without a doubt.

“Continue: _there is no way_ …?” Simon was grinning at him now, like the little shit he was, and Raphael bumped their shoulders together before the other boy apparently decided to walk over and greet their friend. It was certainly odd that Maia happened to be here since none of them had told her about their whereabouts and he didn’t want to be distrustful but considering their circumstances, trust was a luxury they couldn’t really afford.

“Maia, hey!”

Raphael would have stopped the other boy from walking up there but Simon had been too quick to bounce up to Maia and was now beaming at her all happy. Raphael found he still didn’t like it when Simon looked at her like this, even though he was pretty damn sure there was something between him and Simon but maybe his mind only wanted that to be the case? Or he was just being paranoid…

“Simon? Oh my god!” Maia stared at the other boy with wide eyes before breaking into a grin and hugging him enthusiastically and then she spotted Raphael as well, sending him the same wide smile that made her eyes shine and looked way too sincere to be anything but genuine.

“What are you doing here?” Raphael asked while walking up to the other two, letting himself be pulled into a hug by Maia as well and he couldn’t deny he was happy to see her again, though this continued to be rather strange.

“I can ask you the same question. I’m here because my photography club decided to make a five-day trip, just to get out, get a change of scenery and take photos of new things,” Maia explained and, Raphael supposed, that explanation did make quite a lot of sense.

“Maybe it’s fate you ended up exactly where we’re currently residing,” Simon replied with a chuckle and a part of Raphael just wanted to drag the other boy away from Maia and keep him to himself. It was childish and dumb but he couldn’t stop these weird feelings from bubbling up in his chest.

“I’d rather call it a coincidence because that’s what it actually is,” Maia laughed and something in her gaze softened when she looked at Raphael then who suddenly felt like the girl was looking right through him. At least his cheeks didn’t grow hot, that was a relief. “Is Lily still with you guys?”

The tone of her voice made Raphael remember the way Maia had reacted during the first proper encounter with Lily and he got the suspicion that maybe his silly worries were kind of misplaced since Maia seemed a lot more invested in the other girl than Simon.

“She is, yeah. She stayed at our current hideout to check up on the news, trying to find if maybe there’s any kind of sign of another one like us,” Raphael answered and lowered his voice a little now, not wanting other people to overhear their conversation.

“You could come with us if your club doesn’t have any activities going on now,” Simon suggested with a smile and nudged Maia’s shoulder playfully with his own, his lips curling into something more of a mischievous smirk.

“Sorry, we do have something starting in about half an hour but maybe I could drop by later? If you don’t mind giving me the address,” Maia replied with a smile, mostly looking at Raphael now who actually felt a pang of guilt because of his own distrust towards the second good friend he had made during the past few weeks.

“Why would we mind?”

“Because the more people know, the higher the risk of _them_ being able to track you down, doofus.” Maia rolled her eyes at Simon and Raphael couldn’t help but laugh because of course, Maia was smart enough to think of that herself. It was the reason he decided to trust this girl and leant closer, mumbling the address—more like rough directions—into her ear before they had to part ways again since Maia had to get back to her fellow club members and the two boys had their shopping to finish.

*******

“So...when did you get back?” Simon asked Lily during a small breakfast the next morning and the girl did look pretty damn tired, even though she clearly tried her best not to let it show.

Maia had stopped by later the day before when it was almost dark already and she had spent some time talking about the incident at school, that the It’ahr had badly wounded a few police officers that had shown up at the scene later and then they had simply vanished. At least this also meant nobody else had gotten hurt since the It’ahr had noticed their targets were gone and so the town had ended up safe from them.

When it had been pitch black out and Maia decided she should probably leave, Lily had basically insisted on driving her back to where her club was staying during their trip and despite Raphael and Simon being up until shortly after midnight, they hadn’t heard the girl come back afterwards. So either she had been back later than that or...she had returned this morning.

“I don’t know, I didn’t pay attention to it,” Lily replied a little grumpily and Raphael had to hold back a chuckle that was threatening to escape his throat. “Besides, it’s none of your business anyway!”

Now this made it quite obvious that something had happened or Lily was only using a very misleading choice of words, though nobody would react like this when there wasn’t something they were trying to hide.

“Sure,” Simon replied with a mischievous little smirk before taking another bite of the cereal he had chosen to eat for breakfast. He seemed almost a little disappointed when Lily wasn’t at all fazed by the tone he used and simply continued to eat as well, not giving him the satisfaction to be affected by his teasing.

“You like Maia, though?” Simon finally asked after a brief pause and his expression changed to something more serious while he put his spoon aside, elbows resting on top of the table.

“Simon,” Lily replied with annoyance in her voice, rolling her eyes at the boy and Raphael watched the whole scene from the side, not wanting to take part in this conversation even though he was admittedly curious about what was going on there as well.

“Come on, she’s a good friend and we just want to make sure she’s treated well,” Simon replied with a small pout, indirectly dragging Raphael into it as well by using ‘we’.

“You are incredibly ridiculous. Maia is old enough to know what she is doing and with whom,” the girl sighed before taking another bite of her breakfast, unwaveringly staring back at Simon. “But, yes, something happened and, no, that doesn’t mean we’re a couple now. It’s...it probably was a one-time thing.”

Raphael tilted his head a little and he had the slight suspicion that Lily didn’t want that to be true but he knew better than to comment on it. It wasn’t his business to interfere in other people’s relationships and the two girls were old enough to figure that out by themselves. Especially since he himself wasn’t exactly very good at going about whatever this between him and Simon was. He should definitely sort his own stuff out before meddling in other people's’ private business.

“Maybe but who knows,” Simon commented with a smile and tilted his head to the side. “Maia is pretty damn amazing.”

Despite the fact that something had happened between the two girls—of course, that didn’t mean Maia was only interested in girls—Raphael felt his expression darken the tiniest bit at Simon’s words. He couldn’t help but dislike it whenever the other boy spoke so unnecessarily fondly of her.

“Ahw, sounds like someone has a crush,” Lily teased and her eyes briefly flitted across the table to Raphael but without either of the boys noticing it.

“No, I don’t. Not anymore, anyway,” Simon replied easily and with a shrug, clearly surprising both of his companions with this reply. Raphael was also pretty relieved upon hearing that this crush had existed but it was in the past now. That was a good sign, right?

“Ah. I wonder why that is.”

Simon looked quizzically at Lily but she merely shrugged, smirked and went back to devouring her breakfast, now in a much better mood again than before.

Silence settled over the trio afterwards, only the slight clatter of cutlery was to be heard in the room until all of them were done with their food and Simon decided to wash up the few things they had used. Lily decided to head back to her room and sleep some more and announced that it was Raphael’s lucky day since that meant a day off from training for him.

Raphael still decided to head outside and train on his own, just trying to get more control over his speed, strength and the stupid lights. He had already gotten better at all of these things. He was now able to turn on the lights almost right away when he focused properly but it still took quite some concentration to keep them shining at a constant brightness but it was an achievement nonetheless, though there was still quite a lot of room for improvement.

His concentration only lasted about half an hour, when the door of their current residence opened and Simon stepped outside, a book in hand and glasses a little askew on his nose which would always make Raphael wonder how the other boy managed that. He was pretty sure the glasses weren’t lopsided by default, he had seen them sit properly on the bridge of Simon’s nose.

“So, you get a day off from training and then choose to still train?” Simon asked, his voice teasing while he walked across the grass and towards Raphael but he made a small turn a few metres before reaching him, heading towards a nearby tree to sit down underneath, placing the book in his lap.

“Well, it’s important and I still have a lot to learn,” Raphael replied with a small shrug but he had stopped with his current set of sit-ups to watch the other boy, feeling unnecessarily awkward about the thought of Simon being around during his training. Sure, he knew Simon sometimes watched the training on other days as well, either from the window or he joined them outside just like right now, but the other times Lily was around as well and made it quite impossible for Raphael to get too distracted by the other’s presence.

“Don’t let me stop you.” Simon smiled at him, finally reaching up to correct his spectacles that would soon have slipped out of place again, and Raphael pushed his fingers a little further into the grass where his hands were currently resting, undecided if he should really continue or accept a day off in order to avoid feeling awkward.

In the end, it was the latter he chose before getting up to join an amused Simon in the shadow of the old tree.

*******

“ _The forecast had said changeable—a misty night tonight followed by bright but chilly days on Friday and Saturday with maybe a few scattered showers towards the end of Sunday when everyone would be heading back into town_ ,” Simon read with a slightly dramatic tone and Raphael couldn’t help but smile constantly ever since the other had just started reading his book out loud. It was nice, sitting here next to the other boy and listening to Simon read.

“ _Everyone, that is, other than Gordon Way_ ,” the boy continued with a short pause, probably more for added dramatic effect than to take a deep breath, “ _The weather forecast hadn’t mentioned that, of course, that wasn’t the job of the weather forecast, but then his horoscope had been pretty misleading as well_.”

“I know I mentioned it already but this book is kind of ridiculous,” Raphael interrupted with a chuckle, grinning innocently when Simon glanced up to glare at him in put-upon outrage.

“Don’t be so mean! It is a tiny bit ridiculous, granted, but I think the writing style has quite some charm. It’s a little confusing and for now nothing makes any sense but I’m sure that’ll change soon enough,” Simon defended the book and softly poked his knee into the side of Raphael’s thigh who hadn’t consciously noticed how close they were actually sitting to one another.

His heart skipped a small beat but he tried to ignore that, snorting in amusement at the other’s behaviour and rolling his eyes at Simon. “You’re ridiculous as well.”

“Pretty sure we had that revelation before,” Simon replied with a long-suffering sigh but then his lips curved up into a smile and the expression in his dark eyes softened, causing Raphael’s heart to stumble against his ribs once more. He really was completely smitten by the other boy by now and it was bordering on ridiculous how much a simple glance and smile of Simon affected him.

“I guess so,” he chuckled and didn't even think when he leant closer a moment later. Now their shoulders and upper arms were pressed together while Simon's knee still rested against Raphael’s thigh.

They sat like this for a moment, the book still open in Simon’s lap but neither of them was paying attention to it anymore. The other boy even leant a little more against Raphael and then, hesitantly, reached out to gingerly place his hand against Raphael’s lower arm, causing goosebumps.

“You think it really was just a one-time thing with the two?” Simon asked, breaking the silence, and Raphael almost laughed out loud since this was kind of an odd time to be talking about other people’s (maybe) relationships.

“No idea but it’s their business either way,” he shrugged in return, not quite in the mood to talk about the two girls but also not really daring to turn the topic around towards their own situation. Raphael would have liked to ask “What about us, though?” but he didn't want to overstep a boundary or find out he had been misinterpreting everything.

Simon’s soft fingertips brushed along his lower arm, the movement slow and tingly, before he suddenly turned a little more towards Raphael, eyes wide and shining with insecurity.

The atmosphere suddenly felt almost charged with a kind of electricity that Raphael had never experienced—it was nothing like the feeling in the air right before a heavy storm, though it reminded him of it—and he almost forgot how to breathe, drowning in Simon’s dark eyes.

“Raphael—”

Whatever Simon had planned on saying, he was unable to get them out and then the motionlessness of the moment was suddenly broken by the other boy leaning forwards, basically clashing their mouths together in clumsy urgency, like someone desperately emerging from the depth of a lake to get to the badly needed oxygen into their lungs.

Raphael was distantly aware of the gasp escaping him but he couldn't even feel embarrassed about it since Simon was as awkwardly clumsy right now as Raphael felt. Their lips slotted together perfectly after Simon’s lower lip first managed to end up beneath Raphael's, missing his mouth a little. He didn't mind it at all, though, since this was actually Simon kissing him.

It was Simon who’s fingers curled into the front of his shirt and held on as if he thought Raphael might disappear otherwise.

It was Simon who made a noise close to a whimper when Raphael unthinkingly parted his lips a little and simultaneously invited the other to deepen the kiss.

The moment was incredibly overwhelming and Raphael’s arms wrapped around the other boy, pulling him close enough for Simon to almost end up in his lap. The book slid to the ground with a dull sound that neither of them noticed, too distracted by the first touch of their tongues.

This closeness and the kiss felt long overdue and Raphael was slightly worried his heart would leap out of his chest any second now, though he knew that was impossible. He sighed into the kiss, pressing further against Simon who was forced to lean back against the tree, pulling Raphael back with him.

One of Simon’s hands let go of Raphael’s shirt to brush upwards, past his neck to follow the line of Raphael’s jaw and then cupping his cheek. Simon’s thumb softly pressed against his skin after brushing over the curve of his cheekbone and Raphael felt himself melt into the ginger touch.

“While I’m kind of glad you boys finally stopped dancing around one another, could you maybe do this somewhere more private before starting to rip off your clothes?” Lily’s bored sounding voice suddenly interrupted their moment and the boys both jerked backwards in shock, only now realising that they were out in the open and not alone in this place anymore—not just Lily was standing in the open door but a widely grinning Maia was casually strolling up to the small house as well, waving at them with a way too happy expression.

“I see you guys are having fun,” she called out and started laughing when Simon slapped his hands over his right red face, trying to hide from the embarrassing situation.

Raphael felt his own cheeks heat up as well but he refused to let the awkwardness get to him and frowned at the girls, trying not to pay too much attention to the tingly feeling in his maybe slightly kiss-swollen lips.

_Simon had kissed him!_

“Don't you have anything better to do?!” Raphael finally groused after finding his voice and figuring out how words worked again. His brain clearly needed to reboot right now.

“What’s better than watching two decent looking boys make out?” Maia chirped and the laughed, looking at Lily with a mischievous grin that made Raphael glad he didn't know what the silent conversation they were currently having was about.

“Decent looking?” Simon uttered with a hint of indignation and Raphael rolled his eyes at the fact that this was what the other took away from the comment.

“Well, a little more than just that, maybe,” Maia mused with a cheeky smirk while leaning against the doorframe next to Lily, almost close enough to also be pressed up against the other girl. “I’m not into guys, though, so don't take my judgement too harshly.”

“That makes no sense whatsoever,” Raphael pointed out with an amused huff before glancing at Simon who suddenly blurted out “I’m into everyone!” before staring down at the grass in horror at his lack of a filter.

“Alright?” Lily wasn’t too impressed, as expected.

“I mean...not right now, obviously. Not ever at once. I'm always only into one person at a time but I don't”—Simon made some weird gesture with his hands that explained nothing before slumping back into his hands-to-face position from before—”never mind.”

“I will honestly never get what this oddball is even doing here,” Lily sighed but it didn't sound mean, just honestly puzzled. She turned around and raised her hand to encircle Maia’s wrist with her fingers and tug the other girl inside and shutting the door with a decided kick, leaving the boys to their own devices again.

“She certainly is something else,” Raphael muttered and his lips curved into a smile when he looked at Simon still trying to hide behind his fingers, probably leaving smudges all over the glasses of his spectacles. “They’re gone.”

“I heard. Doesn't make this any less embarrassing, though,” came the muffled answer and Simon tended up in childish defiance when Raphael grabbed his wrists and tried to pry his hands away.

“Don't act like a petulant child,” Raphael scolded softly before his mouth curved into a smirk and he leant closer, breath fanning over the shell of Simon’s ear. “Your hands are kind of in the way, covering your mouth like this.”

He was almost certain that the tips of Simon’s ears tinged a soft pink at that but his words didn't miss their purpose. The other’s hands fell down into Simon’s lap and the fact that he kept his eyes cast down didn't stop Raphael from gently pressing his mouth to the corner of Simon’s lips.

It was incredibly endearing that Simon acted so awkward about a little bit of teasing but Raphael still preferred it when the other boy wasn’t trying to disappear into himself.

Fortunately, it only took a few seconds for Simon to relax again, reciprocating the kiss easily as if it was something he was used to doing. Raphael already felt addicted to the taste and feel of the other’s lips, nipping at them and finally tracing their seam with the tip of his tongue, followed by a pleading nudge.

*******

_“You shouldn’t be here.”_

_Raphael turned around at the sound of his mother’s voice, eyes wide. He didn't know what was going in and if this was even real—he had the unsettling feeling that it wasn’t—and when he spotted the still familiar figure of his mother, Raphael’s vision blurred._

_He still remembered the way she looked, even after all these years, and it was just as painful as back then to be faced with nothing but a memory since she was gone and would never return to him. Just like his siblings would never return._

_“Where am I?” He muttered around the lump in his throat while taking a tentative step forward but his mother shook her head to stop him, to keep him from coming closer._

_“You shouldn’t be here,” she repeated the warning from before, voice getting a little louder and more insistent._

_Raphael ducked his head a little and bit down on his lower lip before raising his head to face his mother once more, pushing through the pain of loss and loneliness welling up in his chest. “Why?”_

_“Because staying brings nothing but death.”_

_The words were barely above a whisper and were then drowned out by a loud bang, an explosion nearby setting the home of their friends on fire and screams echoing through the area._

_“We have to get away from here!” Raphael didn't care that this wasn't real. He hadn't been able to save anyone in reality but he could at least try to make up for it in his dreams, even if it made absolutely no difference in the end. His mother merely shook her head and smiled sadly._

_“You’re special, my beloved boy. You cannot die here,” she said and then turned around and walked back into their house that Raphael hadn’t even noticed before. He wanted to run after her, stop her from going in there because he knew what would happen next but his legs wouldn't move._

_Arms wrapped around him from behind when another explosion drowned out his scream—the home he had grown up in breaking to pieces right before his eyes, with his mother and siblings inside._

 

“Raphael! Hey, wake up.”

A warm hand pressed up against Raphael’s chest as if it was trying to keep his racing heart from breaking right out of the prison of his ribs. Raphael gasped and opened his eyes, distantly aware of the wetness clinging to his lashes and the corner of his eyes.

“Shhh, it’s okay. You’re okay. It was a nightmare,” Simon’s voice pulled him a little further out of the terror from the dream, from witnessing the death of his family again, but Raphael still felt his body shaking and more small tears spilt from his eyes when he squeezed them shut.

He didn’t even think about the fact that Simon had apparently crawled onto his makeshift bed and wrapped around him but he certainly didn’t mind it—the feeling of the other’s body pressed up against him, soothing warmth plastered against his back, it grounded Raphael and made him more aware of what was real and what wasn’t.

Simon’s hand was still resting against his chest while the other arm was curled around Raphael’s stomach, fingertips gently caressing his side to calm him down. He felt like an absolute mess but the closeness to Simon and just knowing someone was there did actually help, preventing him from falling apart completely. Raphael took deep, shaky breath in an attempt to calm down.

It took quite a long while until Raphael finally felt himself relax and calm down again, with Simon never stopping to caress his side and stomach, the warmth of his other hand seeping through the material of Raphael’s shirt and into his chest, as if it was trying to wrap around his still slightly out-of-rhythm heart. The other boy was whispering nonsense into his ear, probably to keep his mind occupied and distract him from thoughts of the dream which worked pretty damn well.

“Thank you,” Raphael muttered when he felt a bit stabler again and he almost smiled when he felt the tip of Simon’s nose brush against the nape of his neck, followed by a gust of warm breath fanning over his skin when the other mumbled a “No problem” in return. After the gently spoken words, Raphael felt the feathery press of soft lips on his neck and his eyelids fluttered completely close again, a sigh slipping past his own lips.

“Is it okay for me to stay like this for the rest of the night?” Simon asked in a hushed voice and if he had decided to get up, Raphael probably would have asked him to stay anyway so he nodded without hesitation, accompanied by an affirmative noise.

“Please do.” He really didn’t want to fall asleep again but Raphael thought that having Simon curled around him might ward off another nightmare. Raphael still lay awake for quite the while, even when he heard Simon’s breathing slow down and the other boy fell asleep. When he finally did drift off again, it was with his hand resting on top of Simon’s on his chest, their fingers intertwined.

*******

“I _told you_ we should have left that place days ago but did you listen to me?!”

If they weren’t so preoccupied with running away, Raphael probably would have rolled his eyes at Lily, even though she had clearly been right about her suggestion. They had stayed in that place for way too long and they shouldn’t have been this surprised by the It’ahr suddenly showing up.

Raphael looked over his right shoulder to make sure Simon was still behind him, just like Maia—the girl had left with the members of her photography club, only to show up again a few days later with the announcement that she wanted to join them as well. One crazy human that wanted to get involved in this had been odd enough but now a second one? But there had been no convincing Maia otherwise—Raphael suspected the reasons went a little deeper than her loyalty to her friends but neither of their small group mentioned it.

“We can’t keep on running. We should have tried to get to the car,” Simon panted and it was obvious he wouldn’t be able to keep this pace for much longer.

“We had absolutely no chance getting to the car, dumbass!” Lily growled back, not even trying to be nice about it, though she had started to be generally kinder towards Simon over the past few days since Maia was around. “They would have killed us before we would have been able to even think of touching the car.”

“It doesn’t matter now anyway. It’s not like we can change anything about it now,” Maia interrupted, not as out of breath as Simon but still not nearly as at ease about the running as Raphael and Lily were. “We need a plan _now_ instead of discussing what we should have done earlier!”

Raphael grit his teeth but his mind wasn’t able to come up with anything. It only spiralled back to the thought of having left Magnus behind at the house and even though he was fairly sure the It’ahr probably wouldn’t give a single fuck about some cat, he still felt terrible for leaving the animal behind. He hoped they would be able to circle back, get their few belongings, the car and Magnus—without dying in the process, obviously.

“We should try splitting up,” Lily said and slowed down a little, forcing all of them to match her pace and Simon gasped in disbelief.

“Really, that is your idea of a plan? Why not just walk back and offer them a hug instead? Sounds just as brilliant as _splitting up_. We’re surely stronger together, not facing them on our own.”

“Yeah? How are you anywhere near useful against them?!” Lily glared at the other boy and stopped in her tracks now, hands on her hips after brushing a few loose strands of hair out of her face that had come undone from her ponytail.

“Guys, come on! Fighting each other won’t help the situation. Simon’s right, we should stick together—especially since he and Maia aren’t that good in a fight against them,” Raphael voiced his own thoughts and glanced around but right now there was nothing but trees around them, not It’ahr anywhere. He was pretty sure that would change sooner rather than later.

Before Lily had the chance to protest again, there was a crashing sound and a slight tremor ran through the ground beneath their feet, causing all of them to hold their breaths and turn around in alarm.

“What—what was that?” Simon’s voice was a little higher pitched and almost cracked, panic seeping into it and Raphael barely managed to hold back the instinct to grab the other’s hand, instead, he instinctively stepped in front of the other boy while scanning the forest around them for whatever had caused this.

“Wryth’ek.”

His head snapped around to Lily who’s face had paled a little and Raphael felt his own heart dropping into his stomach at the realisation that she was right.

“Excuse you?” Simon nervously pushed his glasses back up his nose while blinking at Lily with wide eyes. “I have no idea what you just said but I guess it’s nothing good.”

“Wryth’ek”—Lily pulled her hair back properly before bending down to retrieve a dagger from her boot, flipping it around with practised ease so the blade was facing downwards—”they’re the bloodhounds of the It’ahr. Giant, bloodthirsty monsters that are almost impossible to control.”

“You clearly have no idea what a bloodhound is,” Simon muttered but his voice was barely there at the prospect of what they would be facing now.

The It’ahr on their own were already scary as hell but if they brought one, or even multiple, of their creatures, this would end in even more of a bloodbath. As far as Raphael knew from stories, it was nearly impossible to still be standing a minute into a fight against a Wryth’ek. These creatures were killing machines.

“I guess we’re fucked, then,” Maia commented and her voice was surprisingly steady, though her face had paled and her stance was rigid, clearly scared out of her mind.

Raphael felt regret washing over him, once again realising that they had dragged innocent humans into their mess and doomed both Simon and Maia to die in a horrible way by allowing them to stick around. Lily had already told him he was stupid for keeping Simon around but now she was making the exact same mistake with Maia, despite insisting that it was nothing serious. Raphael had seen the way she looked at the other girl, the way the atmosphere between these two had shifted lately.

They were both in over their heads already.

“Pretty much, yeah,” Lily agreed unhappily but she didn’t insist on her splitting up idea any further, tightening her grip on the dagger instead and nodding for Maia to get behind her as well. They might not have any chance against these things but Raphael and Lily were clearly on the same page of at least trying to protect their...whatever Simon and Maia were to either of them at the moment.

A part of Raphael regretted not having asked about whatever this with Simon was since he had figured they would have more time for this but apparently he had been wrong about this assumption.

Another loud noise echoed through the forest, the sound of breaking branches and knocked over trees followed by another rumble that made the ground vibrate ever so slightly. It was only a moment later that they could see the trees in the distance move, birds and other animals startled by the creature that was making its way through their home.

Raphael swallowed thickly and he could actually hear that Simon was doing the same. “You two should get out of here. It’s us they want—the chances of them not caring about you are damn good.”

He didn’t have to look at Simon to know the other boy wasn’t in favour of this suggestion but Raphael would rather be self-sacrificing about this than knowingly dragging the other boy down with him.

“Not a chance,” Simon replied decidedly and lightly slapped the back of his hand against Raphael’s shoulder blade to silently let him know about the stupidity of his words. “I’m not leaving you guys here and I doubt Maia will, either.”

There was an affirmative noise from the girl that had grabbed a branch somewhere along the way to have at least somewhat of a weapon against their enemies. The damn thing would do nothing against the Wryth’ek and was merely a nice sentiment but Raphael refrained from voicing that because he knew that even having a pen in hand would feel better than facing some monster empty-handed.

“We don’t need you to take care of us—we can do that just fine,” Simon added with more confidence than reasonable in their current situation and if this wasn’t literally leading up to their deaths, Raphael probably would have laughed about it.

“Simon...I’m not so sure about that,” Maia interrupted and her voice sounded thin, barely audible over the sound of more breaking branched when a tree before them was pushed aside by a giant body, the otherworldly creature breaking out onto the small clearing towering over them with glowing red eyes and foul breath.

Raphael had heard about these four-legged demons—their horns, sharp yellowish teeth and scaly skin—but hearing about them in stories and standing right in front of such a beast were two completely different things. The creature was almost as tall a damn house, heavy enough for its clawed feet to leave indentations wherever it stepped.

“That is so not like a bloodhound at all.”

It was beyond Raphael how Simon was able to make silly comments even now, facing this spawn of hell itself, but he really had other problems than trying to figure the other boy out.

The Wryth’ek threw its head back and made a sound that was similar to a howl but more roaring and haunting than the sounds any earthly creature could produce. Raphael felt a shiver run down his spine and he had to resist taking a step back with the cold fear creeping up his chest, making a home between his ribs that felt like they were tightening around his heart.

There was no time to agree with the other on what to do or to even think about anything for himself when the creature raised its front legs, stomping on the ground once before leaping forwards, towards the small group. The ground quivered from the beast’s weight and the teenagers just to managed to jump out of the way before they could be barreled over by the giant creature.

From the corner of his eyes, Raphael saw that Simon had lost his balance from hasting to the side and landed on the fortunately mossy soft ground of the forest. He ran towards the other boy and just so managed to pull Simon to the side before the Wryth’ek had turned around and attacked again.

The stench wafting off of the monstrosity was almost sickening and Raphael tried to avoid breathing through his nose too much while he tugged Simon aside, pulling him to his feet. “This is why I told you to get out of here.”

“I’m not just turning tail and leave you,” Simon protested, his voice shaky and thin but he still seemed determined to see this through to the bitter end.

Raphael simultaneously loved and hated the other boy for his ill-placed loyalty. He pressed his fingers into Simon’s upper arm, probably hard enough for it to be painful but the other didn’t even flinch, just looked at him from behind his askew glasses.

“Hey, you big ugly bastard!” Lily’s voice broke them out of whatever moment they were having—fortunately so since this really wasn’t the time—and Raphael whirled around to spot the girl standing at the other side of the clearing, dagger in hand and fierce expression on her face. The expression of a warrior willing to do whatever it took to stand their ground and defend what was theirs.

Raphael couldn’t help but be impressed by Lily while simultaneously being ashamed of his own uselessness. They had trained a lot during the past days and weeks, he had gotten a lot better with his abilities, but Raphael still felt incredibly incapable of holding his ground in any kind of fight, let alone one against one of the most dangerous creatures he had ever heard of.

He saw Lily jump aside when the Wryth’ek leapt towards her but she didn’t just get out of the way, she quickly turned around to attack the monster right back. The creature made an angry noise when the dagger pierced the scaly skin of its side but it didn’t seem to do much damage. The Wryth’ek moved faster as expected, managing to hit Lily with its clawed prank and knocking her to the side.

The girl was actually sent flying, only stopped by a tree and the dull thud when she smacked into it caused Raphael to flinch. His instincts screamed at him to get over there and make sure Lily was still alive and not too badly hurt but he knew that would only get him killed so he held back, pushing Simon aside and silently ordering him to get his ass to something resembling safety.

The creature was slowly stalking up to the unmoving body of Lily on the ground, greenish slobber dripping off its menacingly sharp fangs and Raphael knew he had to divert its attention or see another person dear to him die. Without thinking, he grabbed a nearby rock and hauled it at the Wryth’ek, hitting it straight against the head and making sure to get its attention.

“You’re a really ugly fucker, you know that?!” Raphael called out, despite being quite sure that the creature wasn’t able to understand his words but it felt a little better to insult it instead of standing there all mute and scared motionless.

The Wryth’ek growled, showing off more of its sharp teeth and ducked its head when it got ready to leap at Raphael now. It was bordering on a miracle that they were all still alive though it was probably thanks to the environment, the trees hindering the giant creature from roaming around very freely since it seemed actually quite fast for its size, judging by the pace at which it managed to turn around and how quickly it had reacted to Lily’s counterattack.

Raphael managed to get out of the way when the creature attacked him but its spiky tail knocked him off his feet regardless, sent him flying to the ground with a small pained grunt. He was back on his feet in a few seconds, though, surprising himself with his fast reaction.

Raphael barely noticed the slight burning sensation on his arm where one of the spikes had sliced through his jacket and shirt, right into the flesh of his upper arm. The adrenaline pumping through his veins made him unaware of the injury.

He grabbed another rock but this time didn’t throw it at the creature—he jumped and met the Wryth’ek when it attacked, smashing the stone against the side of its face and drawing a howling growl out of its foul reeking mouth. The beast stumbled to the side and shook its head as if the hit had made it slightly dizzy but then it was distracted when Simon, unthinking, called out Raphael’s name in shock when he spotted the blood dripping down the other’s hand from the cut on the upper arm.

Raphael and the creature both turned around and his heart stuttered in its already frantic rhythm when the Wryth’ek set off to barrel towards Simon who would be dead in a heartbeat if this monster wasn’t stopped before reaching the other boy. Raphael felt panic take over his mind and body, another rush of adrenalin following right after and he didn’t even recognize his own voice when he called out to their enemy.

“If you dare get any closer to him, I swear I will take you apart limb from limb!!” Raphael knew he probably wasn’t capable of such an action but right now that really wasn’t the point. He raised his hands more on instinct instead of it being a conscious action and pointed his palms towards the Wryth’ek, the lights not even flickering and shining from his palms in a split second, shining with a beaming bright blue light.

The creature seemed surprised and unimpressed at first but then the light hit it properly and an almost squealing noise escaped its mouth. The Wryth’ek jumped backwards, small plumes of smoke rising from the point of contact where the blue light met its scaly skin, and it actually seemed to burn the creature. Raphael had no idea if it was just affecting the beast since it wasn’t from this planet or if his powers actually had this ability but right now he honestly didn’t care—as long as it had use and could do damage to their enemy!

The Wryth’ek screeched and shifted away from the lights burning its skin but then it fixed Raphael with a murderous glare and lunged towards him, knocking Raphael off his feet and pressing him down against the ground with one clawed paw.

He stared up at the beast, shocked by the sudden change in positions and unable to point his palms at the creature again. Raphael’s heart was pounding, fully aware of the fact that this was surely his end and when the Wryth’ek leant down, gleaming teeth ready to strike, he squeezed his eyes shut, not even consciously noticing Simon calling his name in a panic.

Raphael tried the fruitless attempt to push the Wryth’ek off, to somehow get free from the beast’s heavy paw resting on top of his upper body, but it was completely useless and the paw didn’t budge the tiniest bit.

The pain in his chest intensified since the creature’s weight pressed down further on him when it bent down but then there was a loud howling sound close by and suddenly _something_ knocked the Wryth’ek off of Raphael with so much force that he was thrown a few metres in the process as well, his head connecting painfully with something hard and blackness washing over Raphael’s mind before he was even able to open his eyes and see what had happened.

*******

Raphael groaned in pain, his head and upper arm throbbing terribly, and it took a moment until he realised that someone was calling his name and careful fingers were combing through his hair. His eyelids fluttered and a few attempts later he finally managed to open them with another soft groan, while he was trying to remember what the hell had happened.

The memories came rushing back as soon as he realised he was lying in the middle of the damn forest—they had been attacked and he had apparently been knocked out but it seemed like he was still very much alive.

“Raphael, thank God!” Simon’s voice was a little weak and quite wobbly but when Raphael squinted up at the other boy, he was met with a teary-eyed smile. “How are you feeling?”

“Like some giant monster knocked me around,” he rasped his answer and Simon’s following laugh sounded more like a hiccup than an actual laugh.

The other boy was pale, his eyes shimmering and cheeks wet and Raphael felt a wave of protectiveness wash over him at the sight, not quite sure what was the reason that had caused Simon to cry. Though he had the inkling that it might have to do with his current state—it was kind of endearing to think that maybe Simon was crying because he was worried about him but at the same time, Raphael didn’t want to give the other boy any reason to cry.

“You were out for several minutes. I thought—you scared the shit out of me,” Simon said, his voice still wobbly, and a few more tears rolled down his blotchy-red cheeks, a few tiny droplets clinging to his long, dark lashes. “When that thing jumped on top of you, I thought you were done for and then you were knocked head first against this stone and—”

Simon paused, apparently unable to form another word because he was choking up, the emotions welling up again thanks to his own words. More tears streamed down his face and Raphael felt terrible for being unable to reach out and brush the tears away but his whole body ached and didn’t respond to his orders to move, to touch the other boy and soothe his pained emotions.

“Simon, hey,” he muttered with a weak voice but Raphael was too stubborn to not at least try to do something, “Simon, look at me.”

His lips curled into the faintest hint of a smile, even though he didn’t feel like smiling in his current state but maybe it would help calm Simon down and show him that it wasn’t so terribly bad. “Calm down, I’m okay—at least not anywhere close to kicking the bucket. Sorry for scaring you like this.”

Simon hiccuped softly and raised one arm, brushing the sleeve over his face to get rid of his tears but they didn’t stop falling from his eyes, a few even dripping down his chin and Raphael felt one of the teardrops landing on his forehead.

“How are the others?” Raphael asked, hoping that maybe a shift of the topic would help the other boy get his thoughts away from the shock of seeing Raphael attacked and hurt by the Wryth’ek.

“We’re fine, thanks to Magnus,” Maia called out from somewhere but Raphael couldn’t see her from his position, even when he tilted his head a little in an attempt to look around. He was glad that the girls were fine, though, and Maia did sound pretty ruffled as well but also very alive. Though, her words didn’t make any sense to him.

“Magnus?” He asked and frowned, wondering how the hell his cat could have anything to do with all of them still being alive. The feline wasn’t even around here, it was still back at their house.

“Uhm, yeah,” Simon added not so eloquently and looking down at Raphael with wide eyes as if he just remembered something damn important that he probably should have mentioned already. Not that Raphael blamed the other for forgetting anything, considering what had happened to them. “Your cat...isn’t a regular cat.”

“Well, that explains everything,” Raphael deadpanned and finally attempted to sit up, flinching when a stinging pain radiated through his head and upper arm alike. He felt Simon’s hands carefully steadying him and with a little bit of help, he was able to sit up, though he was mostly leaning against the other boy who simply curled his arms protectively around him.

“Your little friend is right. I’m not just _not a regular cat_ , though, I’m not one at all,” an unfamiliar voice spoke up suddenly and Raphael raised his eyebrows, glancing over towards the strange looking man. He looked mostly human but his golden eyes, the blue shimmering streaks in his hair and slightly pointy ears, as well as the dark blue, scaly tail with the pointy tip, told Raphael otherwise.

This guy wasn’t human and he sure as hell wasn’t from this planet either but Raphael had never before encountered any of his kind before. He was pretty sure this guy wasn’t native to his former home planet either.

“Wait...you’re Magnus? You’re my cat??” He had seen a lot of things but the being that he had by his side as his pet for a few years now turning out to be...something entirely else...it was beyond weird and a little unsettling, to say the least.

“That’s my name, I suppose. You gave it to me and I never had a different one,” the man replied easily while slowly walking closer, sinking down into a crouch next to Raphael and carefully reaching out to brush his cool fingertips against the skin of Raphael’s forehead. Magnus’ fingers came away sticky with dark red blood, making Raphael aware of the fact that he had a cut on the side of his head in addition to the injury the Wryth’ek’s tail had left his upper arm with.

“I know this is incredibly weird and confusing for you but...is it okay for me to treat your wounds? I can heal most of it,” Magnus offered and his voice was oddly calming—there was a softness to it that only confused Raphael further since, to him, this guy was a complete stranger. It was kind of impossible for him to imagine that this was his cat.

“You can heal me?” Raphael wondered and he didn’t try to hide the fact that he was pretty damn sceptical about this.

“Yes,” the man confirmed and wriggled his hands a little, bluish sparks flying from the tips that looked like tiny stars. “You could say I’m quite...magical.”

For some reason, Simon snorted in amusement at that but his fingers were curled into the partly destroyed fabric of Raphael’s shirt, still keeping him close and holding on to him as if Simon was scared he could disappear otherwise.

“Maybe, if you promise to tell me why the hell you stuck around in the shape of the cat and where you even came from—what you are,” Raphael replied and he figured that this guy could have already killed him if that was what he wanted so there didn’t seem too much harm in accepting Magnus’ help.

The man smiled almost happily and he nodded his agreement, clearly not minding and actually having anticipated Raphael wanting these answers. “I will answer whatever you want to know as truthfully as possible.”

That was good enough for now and Raphael’s eyelids fluttered closed when Magnus’ hand went back to his head, a tingly warmth radiating off of the touch and seeping right into his skin, dimming the throbbing pain and replacing it with a soft hum, a sensation more like a mildly uncomfortable itch instead of actual pain.

“Better?” Magnus’ voice reached him to the slight fog this treatment had left Raphael with and he needed a moment to realise that the stinging pain in his head had significantly lessened to a very bearable level. His cut-up upper arm was still aching quite a lot but that, he could deal with.

“Yes, actually. How did you do this?”

“Like I said: I’m _magical_ ,” the man replied, wriggling his fingers in front of Raphael’s face before simply slumping into a sitting position next to them, not caring that his clothes were getting dirty from the earthy ground now as well. “You could say I’m a healer. Healer and protector, of sorts.”

Magnus smiled almost a little sadly and brushed one of the shimmering blue strands of his otherwise dark hair out of his eyes, briefly drawing Raphael’s attention to the dark grey-ish coloration around the man’s eyes, especially on the upper lid, making it look like he was wearing eyeshadow but Raphael was fairly certain it was just a natural tone to his skin.

“A few of my kind ended up on your planet and we are basically fated to find people we want to protect. It’s in our DNA, I guess. I know your kind has something like soulmates and you could say we have that as well—though with us it’s not on a romantic level,” he continued with a small shrug.

“I was already around a few years before everything happened and then followed you here,” Magnus admitted and his smile grew into something kind of sheepish since he was probably realising that this sounded a little bit questionable. “I’m pretty sure Ragnor knew right from the start what I was but he never said anything.”

Raphael felt the pang of loss in his chest at the mention of Ragnor’s name and Magnus looked a little bit pained as well. Even though Magnus had stuck around in the form of a cat, he clearly cared about Raphael and Ragnor after all this time and surely felt the loss as well.

“I’m a Truyguhn, that’s what my species is called, and, obviously, we have the ability to heal injuries to a certain degree—”

“And you can turn into a cat!” Simon interrupted and despite still being pale and in shock, the boy sounded awed and had a fascinated gleam in his eyes that made Raphael smile softly. The other boy was ridiculously adorable without even trying.

“I can turn into a lot of things. Whatever creature I put my mind to, actually. Well, as long as it’s not more than twice my size—there are limits to every ability,” Magnus agreed with a grin and casually wrapped his tail around his own lower arm. “I also can’t make this one disappear, only change the way it looks. So it’s always wise to choose to turn into a being that naturally has a tail.”

“Now I’m imagining a frog with a tail,” Simon commented and then chuckled which caused Magnus to roll his eyes at him.

“I’ve never even considered turning into such a slimy creature. I prefer elegant animals.”

“Elegant? Like a few days ago where I woke up with a drooling cat sprawled out across my chest?” Raphael wondered and his lips curled into a grin at the other’s indignant sound. It was weird, he was basically meeting Magnus for the first time but he didn’t _feel_ like a strange, more like an old friend—Raphael supposed that was exactly what this strange guy was.

“Boys, not to interrupt the story time but how about we get away from here? So far it seems like the It’ahr are convinced their darling pet can handle us easily but they will notice the damn thing is no more and come looking for us soon enough,” Lily said and walked over with Maia by her side. She had a few bruises on her arms and near her cheekbone, probably where she had hit it when the Wryth’ek had flung her around.

Maia looked worried and stayed close to the other girl but she nodded as well and there was probably no arguing with the truth of Lily’s statement.

“Yeah, you’re right. We can talk when we’re somewhere safer,” Raphael agreed and, with the help of Simon and Magnus, got to his feet. He felt a little bit dizzy at first and instinctively grabbed hold of Simon’s lower arm to steady himself but the other boy had already curled his other arm around his side anyway.

“The car’s this way.” Magnus pointed towards the trees to their left and now everyone turned their heads towards him. “What? You think I walked here? Please.”

Nobody even asked how Magnus knew how to drive since at least this meant they didn’t have to walk for very long in their slightly beat-up state.

 

“How did you even get rid of the Wryth’ek?” Raphael asked when they finally reached the car after a ten-minute-walk through the forest, fortunately without encountering any more dangerous creatures or It’ahr warriors. “I’m assuming not looking like this or in the form of a cat.”

“I’m sure my magnificent looks could have knocked the thing out a lot faster but, no, I went for something a little more antique.”

Raphael had no idea what that was supposed to mean but Simon chose to enlighten him. “He showed up as a damn dragon! Or at least it looked a whole lot like one.”

“It was actually something a little less earthly and a little more from out there,” Magnus nonsensically, pointing towards the sky to indicate the universe and other planets, “the name of the creatures is kind of unpronounceable but they look a lot like what you call dragons so we’ll just go with that. They’re from my home planet and probably even more terrible than Wryth’eks but in fights, it’s quite effective to be one of them.”

“He just knocked that monster off you with full force and at first we all thought it was another creature out to kill us but after the fight, he changed into this,” Simon added, making an all-encompassing gesture towards Magnus who raised his eyebrows but apparently chose to take the words as a compliment.

“Now, come on and get in the car, children. We need to get away from here.”

Magnus didn’t care about the eye rolls he earned for calling them kids, merely grinned mischievously as he climbed into the driver’s seat of the car and casually pulling the door shut with his tail.

*******

“All done,” Simon announced when the bandage was securely fixed around Raphael’s upper arm. They had driven for a few hours—Maia had made a makeshift bandage for him with a piece of cloth for the duration of the ride—but now they had settled into a motel. The other boy finally had his natural colour back in his face, not pale anymore and also not greenish from Magnus’ quite bumpy driving style.

“Thanks,” Raphael replied, leaning a little further into the pillow that was placed between his back and the head of the bed of their shared room. He felt exhausted and sleepy, especially now that he had a relaxing warm shower despite his injury not being too happy about coming in contact with warm water.

Simon had been hovering close by the whole time and Raphael had almost expected the boy to follow him into the bathroom and Simon had actually looked like he had wanted to but in the end, he had stayed in the room. Now that Raphael’s arm was properly taken care of, Simon grabbed the towel that was still around Raphael’s neck and tucked it up over his head, fingertips gently massaging Raphael’s head to dry his hair some more.

“How are you doing?” Raphael asked after a moment of silence, leaning his side a little against Simon’s front while the other’s legs were framing him, fingers still occupied with drying Raphael’s messy curls.

“I’m not the one who got attacked by the...thing,” Simon replied, not even trying to say the creatures name—probably because he hadn’t quite memorised it and the sound of it was too unfamiliar to successfully do so in a short amount of time. Not that he needed to know what these things were called. Simon had never been met to encounter one of these beasts anyway.

“You know that’s not what I mean, idiot.” Raphael sighed and reached up to stop the other’s hands, ignoring the twinge of pain in his left arm when the movement strained his throbbing wound. He looked at Simon with soft eyes, tilting his head a little. “Physical injuries aside, nobody is fine after such an encounter. I was in shock when the Wryth’ek showed up and I have at least heard about these creatures before. I can’t imagine how much worse all of that had to be for you and Maia.”

Simon cast his eyes down, looking at his hands that were both clasped in Raphael’s who’s thumbs moved gently across the backs of Simon’s hands in slow, soothing motions.

“I don’t know. Sure, the Wry-thing kind of scare the living shit out of me but—” The other boy shrugged a little and his eyebrows drew together in a small frown. “Seeing you get attacked by it was a lot scarier than the prospect that I could have gotten hurt as well.”

These words shouldn’t be as surprising to Raphael as they were and a warm wave of affection for the other boy washed over him at an unexpected intensity. Ever since their kiss, they had been pretty close and sought physical contact with one another more often but they hadn’t really shared more kisses or talked about what it was between them and Raphael honestly hadn’t wanted to push the other boy—there wasn’t exactly a need to define what they were to each other but it would admittedly be nice to do so sometime soon.

“At the risk of sounding terrible cheesy but: you’re honestly the single best thing that has ever happened to me and today, when that thing was on top of you, I was so fucking terrified of losing you,” Simon added with a small voice, barely above a whisper, and his fingers curled tightly around Raphael’s while he tilted his head to rest his forehead against the other’s shoulder.

Raphael could feel the slightest tremor running through Simon’s body but he wasn’t sure if the boy had started crying again or not. Hopefully not. He couldn’t bear to see Simon in tears again today.

“It’s the same for me,” he admitted in return, voice soft. “I’m so incredibly glad that you didn’t get hurt today. I dragged you into all of this and I hate the thought of not being able to protect you from the things that are after me. Part of me wishes you would finally decide to leave and not be part of this after all because I’m honestly not strong enough to tell you to go.”

He knew it was a terrible thing to say, to basically burden Simon with such a decision, especially since he knew the other boy was way too stubborn and loyal to actually do just that.

“Don’t be stupid. You don’t want me to get hurt but I don’t want you to get hurt either so I have to stick around, otherwise I would go crazy thinking you might have been killed by some alien creature without me ever knowing about it,” Simon replied and tugged Raphael closer, freeing his hands from the grasp to be able to wrap his arms around the other boy.

“I guess I can’t really argue with that,” Raphael agreed with a chuckle and he would probably say the exact same so he really couldn’t fault Simon for his decision. It would be hypocritical to make the other boy leave when he actually didn’t want to be apart from Simon either. “It’s still reckless.”

Simon snorted softly and nuzzled his face against the side of Raphael’s neck now, brushing his soft lips against the warm skin and leaving Raphael with goosebumps in the process. “True but isn’t that kind of the point? With feelings. When you care about someone, you make decisions that are reckless but a lot of the time they are worth it in the end.”

Raphael felt his heart skip a beat at this admission since Simon’s words implied quite heavily that he had feelings for him—which, sure, wasn’t much of a surprise but it was still entirely different to have something explicitly confirmed.

“That reminds me of a quote I read a while ago that put it really well, something like _when you love someone, you don’t just stop. Ever. Even when people roll their eyes or call you crazy...even then. Especially then!_ ”

Raphael had hoped to talk about this and somewhat define their relationship at least a little more but this was so much more than what he had expected. For a moment, he almost forgot to breathe and his heart swelled a few sizes from the strong wave of affection— _love_ —for this incredible boy.

“ _Love_ , huh?” Was all he managed to say in return, suddenly feeling awkward and like all the important words suddenly chose to fail him in a moment where it was most necessary to be a little more eloquent but his brain felt close to short-circuiting. His lack of experience with such a situation definitely didn’t help the matter in the least.

He heard Simon take a deep breath, the other’s heart clearly hammering in his chest where it was still pressed up against Raphael’s side.

“Yeah.”

Nervous silence settled over them for a moment, until Raphael finally got himself to raise his head and properly look at the other boy. Simon did the same a fraction of a second later, staring back at him with pink cheeks and wide-eyes that showed a mixture of fear and unhidden affection.

No words in the whole world were able to express the feeling that got a hold of Raphael at this side and so he decided against saying anything, instead, he leant forward to slide their mouths together in an embarrassingly clumsy kiss that was quickly reciprocated in a just as fumbly way.

*******

“Girls, come on, we should get—Oh shit.” Raphael’s eyes widened and he made an immediate step back after making the mistake to open the girls’ motel door when they still hadn’t answered it on the fifth knock. There was decidedly too much bare skin on display and Raphael regretted about every instance that had let up to this moment. He slammed the door shut and rubbed a hand over his face as if this could make the image burned into his memory disappear.

“What did I tell you,” Magnus commented, casually leaning against the wall of the hallway a few feet away and twirling a blue strand of hair around his index finger, the movement causing the multiple rings on his hand to gleam in the dim lighting every now and then.

“Shut up,” Raphael muttered in return and he did not feel like admitting that the other had been right. That it had been a stupid idea to just walk in there since he should have expected that the girls were...occupied. “Can your magic erase memories?”

Magnus had the audacity to start laughing at him and patted Raphael’s shoulder while walking past, back towards the exit to head outside where Simon was waiting for them on a bench outside of the motel. Raphael rolled his eyes but started moving as well—getting back to Simon sounded like a much better idea than thinking about what he had just witnessed. He did not need to see his friends in certain situations, especially not when they were in a state of being mostly undressed.

“No luck?” Simon glanced up at them from the book he was still reading, the one he had read to Raphael from that one day. Raphael wondered if the other boy was a very slow reader or of he just didn’t read a lot at a time. Maybe it was both.

“That’s one way to put it,” Magnus snickered and made a shooing motion to get Simon to get up off the bench. “Come on, kids, I want breakfast and I’m not willing to wait for the two lovebirds. Well, the _other_ lovebirds.”

“I think I liked him better as a cat,” Simon muttered under his breath, causing Raphael to laugh out loud but the sound almost got stuck in his throat when he felt the other’s fingers tangling with his.

Raphael still wasn’t used to them being like this. He still hadn’t been able to properly wrap his mind around the fact that they had kind of confessed their love to each other already and the mere memory of that conversation made his heart swell with warm affection.

It was weird how relaxed and almost happy the atmosphere was now, despite his arm still hurting most of the time. Magnus was surprisingly good company and somehow managed to keep the mood light, even though he complained a little about the hassle of having to hide his tail all the time when they were around other people. It wasn't the worst fate to have, though.

*******

They kept on travelling around for a few weeks, successfully avoiding another run-in with the It’ahr when they suddenly caught wind that they might be closing in on one of the other few left of their kind.

At least Lily had found somewhat of a trail and basically forced all of them to follow it because if there was even the slightest chance of being an actual thing, they had to take it! They needed as many of their kind as possible to hopefully be able to beat their enemies.

In the end, the trail turned out to lead to nothing so either there hadn't been one of them in the first place or the person had managed to disappear without further traces which was good considering the It’ahr were here and after them but bad since it would prevent them from finding each other as well.

Raphael kept on working on his abilities and Magnus turned out to be quite the good and patient teacher, helping him wherever he could. Lily also trained him but she wasn’t nearly as patient and she got easily annoyed with him when it took a while to implement her techniques properly.

At first, it seemed like his lights had only managed to affect the Wryth’ek but with Magnus’ help, it didn’t take too long for Raphael to almost set fire to a small tree. It seemed like maybe his abilities were more than just shooting light out of his hands that could be used as a substitute for a flashlight. Being able to use them as an actual weapon would be quite the advantage since it meant he didn’t have to get close to the It’ahr when they encountered them again—he’d be able to fight them from a distance which was certainly safer than having to get up all in their faces.

*******

It was another few weeks later when they were spending the night in another motel on the road when Raphael woke up because of a noise from the hallway. He blinked, bleary-eyed, but it was too dark to really see anything in the room. Simon was next to him on the bed, limbs wrapped around Raphael from behind like an octopus and warm breath fanning over the nape of his neck, leaving him with goosebumps.

Part of him wanted to ignore whatever had woken him and just stay in the comfy warmth, go back to sleep, but a feeling in Raphael’s stomach told him to better figure out what was going on outside their door.

He took a deep breath, carefully slipping out of Simon’s embrace and leaving the bed. Raphael grabbed the nearest hoodie on his way to the door, tiptoeing towards it and tentatively placing his hand on the handle. There was another sound outside, the creaking of the wooden floor, and he wondered who the hell was wandering around the motel at this time of the night.

Raphael sent a silent prayer to whatever deity might be out there listening, that the It’ahr hadn’t found them and they were trapped here, before gingerly pushing the door handle down and pulling the door open just enough to be able to take a peek into the hallway.

He saw a tall figure in the dim light, hood over their head and dressed all in black. Raphael frowned and decided maybe he should wake Simon up, about to close the door again, when said door made the slightest sound and the figure whirled around.

Everything happened in mere seconds—they raised their arms and next thing Raphael knew, there was an arrow stuck in the door frame only about two inches from his head. His heart leapt right into his throat and he the door shut reflexively to not get an arrow actually stuck in his head next.

_Who the hell ran around attacking people with a bow and arrow in this day and age?!_

“Rapha?” Simon’s sleepy voice was followed by the rustling of sheets and he was momentarily distracted from the panicked thrumming of his own heartbeat.

“Shsh! Somebody is out there and shot at me with an arrow,” Raphael replied in a hushed voice and flicked the lights on, causing both of them to groan when the bright lights hurt their eyes at first.

“With an arrow??” Simon sounded as disbelieving as Raphael felt but all he could do was nod while slipping into his boots and closing the zipper of the hoodie that turned out to be Simon’s, not his own. “What are you going to do?”

“Getting ready to defend myself, obviously,” he whispered back, not even knowing why he lowered his voice since the person knew he was in here anyway.

There was banging on the door now and Raphael immediately stepped in front of Simon, motioning for the other boy to get his ass out of the way, hide somewhere. Simon clearly wasn’t very into that idea but he still grabbed his clothes from the floor and finally slipped into the bathroom, right in time with the door bursting open.

“Why were you following us?!” The guy stepping through the door asked, bow raised and gleaming arrow pointing straight at Raphael’s chest who swallowed thickly and straightened his shoulders a little to at least appear like he wasn’t scared.

“Following you? I have no idea what—”

“Stop lying and tell me why or I’m gonna shoot you right here!”

Raphael had absolutely no idea what this hazel-eyed, dark-haired giant wanted from him. He had never seen this guy before so why the heck did he think they had been following him— _them_?

“Seriously, who the hell are you?” He simply asked since there was nothing else to say. He couldn’t answer this guy’s question since they hadn’t been following anyone so either someone else was after this arrow shooting maniac or he was just that, a maniac.

 _Please don’t let him be a maniac who’s actually going to shoot me_ , Raphael thought but held himself back from pleading with the young man since he couldn’t imagine this would go over too well for some reason.

“Raphael, what’s with the ruckus in the middle of the night?” Another voice joined the conversation before a ruffled looking Magnus appeared in the doorway, squinting at Raphael before noticing the other figure in the room—how he hadn’t spotted the tall guy right away was completely beyond Raphael but Magnus’ perception worked in mysterious ways or something like that. “Who is your friend?”

“You think some black-clad psycho pointing a freakin bow with an arrow at my chest is my friend, really, Magnus?!” Raphael wondered why they even had this ridiculous conversation right now, seeing as he still had a weapon pointed at him and this was definitely not the time for a discussion about Magnus asking stupid questions.

“I’m asking once more and you’ll regret not answering again: why.were.you.following.us?!”

Now it was Magnus’ turn to look confused while he was still sleepily squinting at the intruder. His eyes flickered up and down the black-clothed figure of the young man and Raphael didn’t like the expression forming on the other’s face, even though he couldn’t quite pinpoint what it even meant.

“I would definitely recall following someone like you,” Magnus replied and Raphael felt his eyebrows jump to his hairline, saw the reaction mirrored on the stranger’s face as well. The bow was lowered, probably unknowingly, and the man frowned at Magnus.

“Are you serious? I know you were asking around about us and followed us until the point where we hid our trail,” the guy replied and the anger in his voice was laced with confusion, probably still from Magnus’ unexpected flirtiness before.

“We weren’t—” Raphael started but something in Magnus’ face made him pause and frown. There was an expression in the other’s eyes, like realisation.

“It’s you,” Magnus suddenly said and there was an almost thrilled gleam to his eyes before glancing at Raphael, flashing a bright smile at him, “he’s the trail Lily had found, the one we thought had been a failure.”

He blinked at Magnus and then it clicked for him as well. “You’re from Pramenus as well?”

The guy lowered his bow completely now, his eyes widening a tad and mouth rounding into a surprised o.

“Sorry for shooting at you?” The guy now offered with a sheepish smile, his before hard features suddenly losing some of their tension, making him look softer and also younger. Raphael was pretty sure the young man wasn’t too much older than him. “I’m Alec, by the way.”

“Short for Alexander, I presume?” Magnus asked with a smile and Raphael raised his eyebrows. It was really unexpected to see Magnus blatantly flirty with this guy, though he simultaneously wasn’t too surprised either. This was Magnus, after all. He was straightforward about what he thought and wanted.

“What else would it be?” Alec wondered and tilted his head a little, shifting his stance slightly and if Raphael were to guess, he would assume the guy was nervous. He had barged in here, brandishing a bow and arrow, had shot at Raphael with said weapon without batting an eyelash but Magnus’ attention caused him to be nervous? It was almost endearing.

“I don’t know but I thought it’s better to make sure. My name is Magnus, this grumpy looking shorty is Raphael and his darling in the bathroom answers to the name of Simon, though Sheldon or anything similar sounding gets a reaction out of him as well,” he introduced them cheerfully, causing Raphael to roll his eyes and the door to the bathroom to click open.

“Is it safe to get out of here now? It’s getting kind of awkward, hiding away in here like some affair having to avoid the husband who’s coming home early,” Simon said, sounding way too serious while the content of what he was saying was rather ridiculous.

Raphael simply motioned for his lover to get his ass over to him since there definitely wasn’t any danger, at least Alec seemed to have given up on wanting to shoot anyone with arrows for now. Simon seemed a little sceptical but he followed Raphael’s silent prompt, stepping closer and leaning into him when Raphael wrapped his arm around the other’s side.

“So, are all of you from Pramenus or—?” Alec asked, looking from one to the other while putting the arrow back to the others, strapping the bow to his back in a practised move.

“No, just me and one other person from our group but she’s in the other room,” Raphael answered and Alec nodded. “You said something about ‘you followed us’ earlier. Who’s _us_?”

“My sister is with me. She’s not here right now because she thought it would be stupid to confront whoever is after us but she still didn’t object following your trail in turn. By the way, you’re really easy to track down.”

Simon made a small noise in the back of his throat that sounded adorably offended, though they couldn’t exactly disagree with the guy, Raphael figured. Lily was the only one of them who had lived on the road for a longer period of time and she knew mostly how to not leave a trail but the rest of them...they had no idea how to do any of this properly and Lily couldn’t exactly keep track of everything they did and dictate their every move. She still scolded them for being idiots every now and then.

“So the rest of you are just regular people?”

“Simon is and our other friend, Maia, yes. But I’m not even close to that,” Magnus answered with a mischievous little grin and then his tail showed up—Raphael hadn’t even thought about where the thing had been hidden until now—and Alec’s eyes widened in surprise, he even took a small step back before flushing in embarrassment about his own reaction.

“That’s—you’re—What are you?”

“I’m a Truyguhn,” Magnus started explaining but Alec interrupted him before he got any farther than this.

“Ah, I’ve heard about your kind. Shapeshifters, right?” He smiled at Magnus and stepped closer again, tilting his head a little and taking the other man in with a curious expression, probably just now noticing Magnus’ slightly pointy ears and the different colour around his eyes. “I thought you were wearing makeup and wondered why you had been sleeping with the stuff still on.”

“No makeup needed, darling, I’m naturally this beautiful.”

Raphael almost burst out laughing when Simon made a small, fake-gagging noise next to him and muttered about those two needing to get their own room.

“Guys, it’s nice to see you two get along but it’s the middle of the night and I’m pretty tired, despite having been shot at with an arrow,” Raphael mentioned with a pointed stare in Alec’s direction before gesturing for the door. “If you want to continue this conversation, please do so anywhere that isn’t our room.”

“Oh, right, sorry. I’ve got to go now anyway. My sister surely noticed that I’m gone and will worry if I stay out for too long,” Alec said with a crooked little grin, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. How this guy had managed to seem dangerous earlier, Raphael didn’t know. “Maybe...I could stop by again tomorrow, with my sister? We haven’t met any of the others so far and I guess it would be nice having someone to talk to.”

He was mostly looking at Magnus who seemed instantly smitten by the admittedly good-looking young man. Magnus, unsurprisingly, agreed right away and stressed how welcome _Alexander_ was to come visit them, that he’d _love_ to talk to him some more.

Only Raphael’s mildly annoyed “Get out of our room already!” managed to finally get these two to step out into the hallway and Simon had the audacity to giggle when Raphael slammed the door shut with a huff. “Seriously, why is this my life?”

Simon chuckled and grabbed his hand, tugging him towards the bed and pressing a sweet little kiss to the corner of Raphael’s mouth as soon as their bodies hit the mattress.

“I don’t know but I’m glad it is, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have met.”

Raphael breathed out a long-suffering sigh but didn’t disagree.

*******

A few minutes ago Raphael had been smiling about Maia and Lily not-so-subtly holding hands in the backseat and suddenly the car had been flipped over and everything had exploded into white pain.

His eyes snapped open and Raphael didn’t even take the time to check if he himself was injured but called out to his friends. The car was lying in a ditch on its head, with him and the others now dangling upside down, broken glass covering the roof of the car.

“Simon?” It was the first word falling from his dry lips, voice cracking a little bit but Raphael couldn’t care about this right now. His heart missed a beat when he heard an answering groan, clearly coming from Simon but not telling him if the other boy was fine or maybe badly hurt.

Raphael cursed under his breath before he fumbled for the seatbelt, just so remembering to raise one arm over his head before releasing the belt in order to catch his fall and to not end up head first in shards of glass. He felt the small pieces of glass cutting into his lower arm, digging further into it from his weight when the seatbelt was released, but Raphael barely registered the stinging pain over the thrumming of his heartbeat and the panic in his chest.

His body felt sluggish, the trauma from the car being flipped over tugging at his muscles and bones but there was no time to take it slow. Raphael forced himself to move, turning around to first check on Magnus in the driver’s seat who was coming to as well, with a small pained sound but there was at least no other visible damage than a few shallow cuts and a pale bruise against his cheekbone.

“Are you guys alright?” Raphael asked when he had managed to turn further around, looking back to Lily, Maia and Simon who were all more or less in a conscious state again as well by now. There was a thin trickle of blood in a stark contrast to the pale skin of Simon’s forehead and Raphael felt a mixture of fear and anger well up inside his chest. He hated to see the other boy hurt and he had a very good idea who was responsible for all of this.

“They’re coming,” Magnus pointed out with a slightly hoarse voice and that was when Raphael noticed the footfalls that were closing in. He stared back at the other man with wide eyes and didn’t even think twice when Magnus nodded slightly at him, a whisper of “I’ll take care of them” on his lips while reaching up to free himself.

Raphael hated leaving his friends in the damn car like this but it would be no use if all of them were stuck in this confined space. One of them had to try and divert the It’ahr’s attention so the others could hopefully get free and out of the damn truck as well.

He climbed out of the broken window, feeling a few more shards cutting into his skin but he didn’t let that stop him, pulling himself out into the grass and up to his feet since there was no time to lose. Raphael already knew that, if he got out of this alive, half of his body was probably going to be covered in bruises but the chance of actually surviving seemed pretty slim right now…

As soon as he was on his feet, looking to the other side of the crashed car, he spotted three of the It’ahr warriors walking up to them with way too relaxed, confident strides. They knew they had the upper hand and they clearly revelled in that fact.

Raphael was tempted to call out to them, to scream at them and haul insults but he figured it wasn’t worth the breath and people in movies always started up dumb monologues in such situations that would never work out in real life. In real life, the enemies wouldn’t wait patiently for whatever shit you had to say or start their own monologue to uncover their evil plans, they simply killed you on the spot.

Fortunately, it was fairly easy by now to control his powers and Raphael stepped away from the car while raising his arms, palms starting to glow and then a stream of pale blue light burst from each palm. Wherever the light hit the ground, there was a soft sizzling sound and the It’ahr actually seemed to hesitate in their steps for a fleeting moment, especially when the light hit one of their legs and made the warrior cry out in surprise and pain alike.

Raphael felt his lips curling up into a smirk and he had to admit that it felt pretty damn good to finally be able to pay these assholes back a little, to hurt them for a change. The moment was over as soon as it started, though, since one of the It’ahr raised their weapon and shot at him, forcing Raphael to duck out of the way and lose his focus.

He had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to beat three of the It’ahr—only one of them would be a challenge but three? But he had to do something if he wanted his friends to have a chance of getting out of this alive and at being able to defend themselves. The least he could do was buy some more time.

Raphael shot his light beams at them again but had to get out of the way as well since he was being shot at in return, the projectile whizzing past his head. The next shot grazed his thigh, a shard pain flashing through his body and he stumbled a little bit forced his leg to not give out, placing the foot more firmly on the ground and gritting his teeth.

The next shot probably would have hit him properly and Raphael was sadly prepared for just that to happen but before the It’ahr could pull the trigger again, there was a different projectile showing up from the side and actually knocking the weapon out of the surprised warrior's hand.

It took a moment for Raphael to realise that said projectile was actually a damn arrow and the wave of relief washing over him almost knocked him off his feet because this meant they had help. Alec was here for whatever reasons and had their back!

Another arrow was suddenly followed by a sound resembling a whip but it was more metallic and Raphael’s eyebrows shot towards his hairline when Alec showed up, still all in black, with a dark-haired woman by his side. The young woman was quite a bit shorter than Alec—like most human beings, actually—but her expression was just as fierce and it didn’t need a genius to figure out that this was his sister.

The whip-like thing in her hand gleamed in the sunlight and when it struck out again, Raphael wondered if his senses were playing tricks on him since the weapon didn’t at all move in a physically logical way. Or maybe...maybe that was her ability’s doing. Whatever it was, it made the whip wrap tightly around another It’ahr warrior’s leg and yank it hard enough to make the warrior lose his balance.

“Don’t just stand there staring, help your friends!” Alec called out while never averting his eyes from the enemy, quickly reaching for another arrow but before he was able to shoot, he had to jump to the side and roll out of the way because the third It’ahr shot at him first.

Raphael almost forgot how to breathe but then realised that Alec was right, he should use the distraction to get to his friends and the other two seemed to be quite capable fighters, apparently able to hold up their end of the fight with almost too much ease.

He turned away from the fight taking place and headed back, close to the car where Magnus had already managed to free Lily who was now helping him with the other two.

“Is anyone badly injured?” Raphael asked as soon as he reached the other, crouching down next to the broken vehicle and glancing inside, heart pounding with worry when he saw that Simon seemed quite groggy and out of it. He had clearly hit his head pretty badly, judging by the blood drying against his temple and Raphael wanted nothing more than to pull the other boy out of the car and into his arms, to check him for more injuries and make sure he was okay.

It felt like forever until Magnus finally managed to get Simon free and fortunately he kind of caught the boy before he could get any more injuries from dropping head first out of his seat. Raphael had helped Lily with Maia—she released the seatbelt while Raphael carefully wrapped his arms around the girl and manoeuvred her out of the car after he had somehow managed to get the damn door open.

Magnus helped Simon out of the car as well and Raphael was by their side right away, softly cupping his lover’s face and checking the cut on his forehead, making sure it wasn’t too bad but the wound had almost stopped bleeding by now so that was hopefully a good sign.

“What happened?” Simon asked in a slightly hoarse voice, squinting up at Raphael after slumping right into his arms, leaning against Raphael’s chest while the other was carding his fingers through Simon’s messy hair.

“The It’ahr attacked but Alec and his sister are here to help us,” Raphael explained briefly and he noticed the way Magnus perked up a bit at the mention of Alec’s name. He was up on his feet right away to assess the situation and Raphael followed suit, carefully dragging Simon to his feet as well but keeping his arms around the boy to steady him.

“I think he might have a concussion,” Maia said from where she was leaning against a nearby tree, not bothered by Lily fussing a little over her, checking for injuries as well. It was almost amusing, the way Lily had changed her demeanour over the past few days and weeks, ever since Maia had joined them—before, she had always tried to seem distant and almost cold but now she was completely unable to hide her affections for the other girl.

“How? It’s not like there’s much to damage,” Lily added but her eyes did flicker towards Simon and she seemed a little worried about the boy as well, even though she tried to hide it.

Simon only muttered an unamused “Ha.ha.” in return and all of their attention was diverted from him when there was suddenly a rumbling sound, the earth vibrating slightly underneath their feet. Raphael’s first thought was that another Wryth’ek was coming but it felt different and when he looked over to where the sound had come from, his eyes widened in disbelief.

There was Alec, just now in the process of straightening up again after apparently having smashed his fist into the ground, causing it to split open for a few metres and swallowing up at least one of the It’ahr’s weapons. Their enemies actually looked kind of spooked, clearly not having expected so much resistance and this time, it was actually them who ended up fleeing the scene.

Raphael hadn’t expected to ever see the day where these cruel beings turned tail and run but the siblings had achieved just that. He had to admit he was pretty damn impressed.

“Are you guys okay?” The young woman called out, wrapping the whip-thing around her lower arm as if it was just some fancy accessory and brushing a few messy strands of long dark hair out of her face.

“More or less, yeah. Thanks to you,” Raphael replied and he still felt a little bit overwhelmed by the fight he had witnessed only moments ago. The way they had fought back against the It’ahr had been child’s play against the siblings’ display of prowess in handling their enemies.

“You were amazing!” Magnus stated, not even trying to hide his admiration for Alec who, once again, went from being a big scary fighter to a shy and awkward-seeming boy, his cheeks turning a soft shade of pink.

“Our car is parked nearby, I’m gonna go get it and then we get away from here,” Alec said, still looking a little sheepish after Magnus’ comment. He turned around to walk in the direction he had come from before but his sister stayed, smiling at all of them.

“Hi, I’m Isabelle but just call me Izzy. Alec told me about you,” she introduced herself and her eyes rested mostly on Magnus, taking in his appearance before her smile widened a little more. “I’m assuming you’re Magnus?”

“Yes, that’d be me. It’s nice to meet you, Isabelle.” Magnus seemed to stick to his habit of calling people by their full name rather than the nickname they apparently preferred but Izzy didn’t seem to mind it too much. She simply cocked her head to the side with a sparkle of amusement in her dark eyes.

“Likewise. Also, if you dick my brother over or hurt him in any way, I’m going to end you,” she replied way too sweetly and Raphael had no doubt that she would live up to this promise.

“I have no such intentions but I will accept the punishment if it ever were to happen,” Magnus replied easily, resting one hand on his heart and smiling sincerely at the young woman.

“Alright, how about you continue this conversation when we’re somewhere safe and get our stuff out of the car now?” Lily interrupted with slight annoyance in her voice and that was definitely a good idea.

Raphael helped Simon towards the spot where Maia was still leaning against a tree, resting him next to her before he helped Lily with their luggage and when Alec showed up with their rather big car a moment later, they put their few bags into the trunk.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Raphael asked in a whisper when they were finally seated in the far back of the car, with Lily, Maia and Magnus in the seats in the middle and Izzy in the front next to her brother. He had his arms wrapped around Simon who seemed about to doze off but since he might really have a concussion, falling asleep better had to wait for a little longer.

“My whole body aches a little and my head really hurts but I think the latter is by far the worst,” Simon muttered back and slowly raised his head a little, a small soothing smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Try to stay awake at last until we get to some motel, okay?”

“Guess you have to keep me awake, then.” Simon grinned a little and nudged the tip of his nose against the side of Raphael’s jaw in an adorably playful gesture, causing Raphael to huff out a soft laugh.

This boy would never stop to be ridiculous but that was okay since Raphael was just as ridiculous by now.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, that's the end and I know it's mean to have an open end like this but that's just the way things are sometimes :P  
> Thank you for stopping by and maybe leave some small feedback—feel free to point out mistakes you came across so I can correct them and do better in the future! ♥
> 
> * * *
> 
> Annotations:  
> ⤏ I used [this generator](https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com) for the name of Raphael's race, his enemies and all that since I'm not creative enough to think up such stuff by myself.  
> ⤏ The book Simon is reading from is _Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency_ by Douglas Adams.


End file.
